MILLARD  FILLMORE 


CONSTRUCTIVE  STATESMAN,  DEFENDER 

OF  THE  CONSTITUTION,  PRESIDENT 

OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


B\ 


WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GRIFFIS,  D.D.,  L.H.D. 


CORPORAL    IN  THE  FLAG-GUARD,  44th  REG'T,  PA.  VOLS.,  1863, 

PIONEER     EDUCATOR     IN    JAPAN,    1870-1874;  AUTHOR 

OF  -  THE  MIKADO'S  EMPIRE,"  «  BRAVE  LITTLE 

HOLLAND,"    "BELGIUM,   THE  LAND 

OF   ART,"   ETC., 


ANDRUS  &  CHURCH 
ITHACA,  N.  Y. 


Copyright,  1915 

bj 
WILLIAM  ELLIOT   GRIFFIS 


Press  of 

ANDRUS  &  CHURCH 
ITHACA,  N.  Y. 


DEDICATED  TO 
the  elder  kinsmen  of  i85o-'6i 
from  whom  a  Philadelphia  boy  learned  politics 
to  the  comrades  of  i86i-'65  in  the  Federal  armies 

and  to  all 

who  love  the  Union  of  States 
made  under  God  by  the  fathers  of  '76. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTBR  PAGE 

I.     Born  in  the  Forest i 

II.     Pioneer  in  Religious  Freedom 3 

III.  Early  Politics  in  the  Empire  State 8 

IV.  In  Washington.     Leader  of  the  House 16 

V.     The  Magnetic  Telegraph 24 

VI.     Champion  of  American  Principles 29 

VII.     Parties  and  Politics  in  1848 35 

VIII.     Vice  President.     Asserter  of  Nationalism 41 

IX.     Union  the  Supreme  Issue 49 

X.     The  President  and  His  Cabinet 56 

XI.     The  Supremacy  of  the  National  Government 62 

XII.     Loyalty  to  the  Constitution 69 

XIII.  Our  Policy  of  Non-intervention 77 

XIV.  The  Yankee  in  Europe 85 

XV.     Our  Flag  in  Every  Sea 90 

XVI.     Fillmore's  Expedition  to  Japan 95 

XVII.     The  Monroe  Doctrine  and  the  Filibusters 104 

XVIII.     National  Honor.     The  Canal  and  the  Treaties 1 13 

XIX.     The  Nominating  Convention  of  1852 120 

XX.  -   The  Era  of  Prosperity  :  1849-1853 125 

XXI.     Politics  and  Immigration 133 

XXII.     The  First  Citizen  of  Buffalo 138 


PREFACE 

The  problems  that  emerged  in  1850  before  the  American 
people  are,  for  the  most  part,  awaiting  solution  in  1915,  and 
it  is  to  these  that  Millard  Fillmore  gave  his  chief  attention 
and  energies,  as  the  facts  of  history  set  forth  in  this  book 
will  show. 

So  far  from  being  the  ' '  colorless ' '  man  in  American 
politics,  which  rivals  and  enemies,  the  ignorant  and  the 
copyists  have  made  him,  Millard  Fillmore  was  a  man  of 
active  mind  and  deep  convictions.  He  helped  mightily  to 
bring  in  the  modern  world.  He  killed  off  one  war  and 
postponed  for  a  decade  the  greatest.  He  sent  a  peaceful 
armada  to  Japan  and  introduced  the  Orient  to  America 
and  the  Occident.  He  was  a  zealous  champion  of  a  canal 
joining  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific.  He  was  a  Union  man 
when  sectionalism  was  rampant  and  explosive.  He  stood 
for  the  whole  country. 

During  his  presidency,  the  economic  map  of  the  world 
was  altered.  He  was  strenuous  in  making  the  United  States 
a  world-power,  and  our  politics  cosmopolitan.  His  aid  was 
potent  in  changing  our  relatively  poor  land  to  one  of  the 
richest  of  countries,  when  California's  gold  disturbed  the 
economic  equilibrium  of  the  world. 

Few  public  men  have  had  a  nobler  record  of  constructive 
statesmanship.  As  state  legislator,  he  secured  the  repeal 
of  laws  requiring  imprisonment  for  debt  and  also  the  aboli 
tion  of  religious  qualifications  for  test  oaths.  He  de 
veloped  the  public  school  system,  opposed  with  might  the 
distribution  of  State  or  city  funds  for  sectarian  education, 
and  as  Comptroller  of  the  Commonwealth  anticipated  the 
system  of  national  banks. 

In  Congress  he  was  the  father  of  the  protective  tariff  of 
1842,  and  of  a  frontier  policy  which  maintained  the  peace 

vii 


PREFACE 

of  a  hundred  years,  commemorated  by  English-speaking 
nations  in  1915.  Ahead  of  most  men  in  foresightedness,  he 
urged  the  electric  telegraph  to  national  success. 

As  Vice-president,  he  vindicated  the  dignity  of  the  na 
tional  government  through  his  initial  establishment  of  fixed 
rules  of  order  in  the  Senate,  demonstrating  that  ours  was 
not  a  leagne  of  states,  but  an  indestructible  union,  a  nation. 

As  president,  he  fathered  the  Japan  expedition,  hastened 
cheap  postage  and  international  copyright,  defeated  sec 
tionalism  and  foiled  the  filibusters.  He  fixed  in  our 
national  life  the  policy  of  non-interference  in  European 
affairs,  developed  the  beauty  of  the  city  of  Washington  and 
the  re-building  of  the  national  capitol,  opposed  unrestricted 
emigration  and  held  the  same  opinions  on  slavery  as  did 
George  Washington  and  Abraham  Lincoln.  Molten  in  the 
hot  fires  of  the  passions  generated  in  fratrascidal  war,  public 
opinion  concerning  Millard  Fillmore  crystallized  too  soon. 
Recent  historians  have  been  more  just  in  their  judgments. 

Fillmore  was  an  ardent  champion  of  the  Union  before 
and  after  the  war  between  the  states.  He  ever  honored 
the  Constitution.  He  grappled  manfully  with  still  un 
settled  problems,  such  as  the  keeping  of  national  faith  in 
treaties,  maintaining  a  consistent  national  policy  with  the 
Monroe  Doctrine,  ever  believing  in  arbitration  instead  of 
war,  and  in  the  supremacy  of  the  nation.  His  spirit  was 
always  that  of  a  national,  not  a  sectional  patriot. 

In  private  life  he  was  a  model  citizen.  Not  many  presi 
dents  of  the  United  States  can  show  a  record  like  his. 
Misrepresented  and  maligned  during  his  life,  he  kept  silence 
and  bided  his  time.  His  name  will  shine  brighter  as  the 
years  roll  on. 

From  hundreds  of  printed  books  and  public  documents, 
in  America,  Europe  and  Japan,  from  the  forty  or  more 
volumes  of  Mr.  Fillmore' s  own  collection  of  manuscript 
"  Letters  received  "  during  his  presidency,  (long  supposed 

viii 


PREFACE 

to  be  lost,  but  discovered  in  1908  and  now  in  the  Library 
of  the  Buffalo  Historical  Society),  the  two  volumes  of 
"  Fillmore  Papers,"  published  by  the  same  Society,  con 
taining  his  letters,  speeches  and  newspaper  reports  (in 
which  will  be  found  much  information  omitted  in  this 
work),  and  from  autographs  of  various  kinds  and  dates, 
from  the  letters  and  personal  testimony  of  living  witnesses 
who  knew  the  man,  from  my  own  boyhood's  reminiscences, 
from  the  conversation  of  elders,  from  civil  war  experiences, 
and  from  research  in  Japan,  Europe  and  America,  I  have 
constructed  this  life-story  of  our  thirteenth  president.  He 
was  not  least  in  a  line  of  rulers,  which  for  ethical  purity, 
high  character  and  signal  abilities,  knows  no  superior  in 
the  world's  long  history. 

W.  E.  G. 
January  i,  1915. 

Ithaca,  N.  Y. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Born  in  the  Forest. 

Millard  Fillmore  was  born  in  the  forest  of  the  Iroquois 
lake  region,  when  the  census  of  wolves,  bears,  panthers, 
and  deer  exceeded  that  of  humanity  by  a  thousand  fold. 
At  Summer  Hill,  in  the  town  of  L,ocke,  in  Cayuga  County, 
N.  Y.,  he  opened  his  eyes  on  the  early  morning  of  January 
7th,  1800.  There  was  no  cradle,  but  a  maple-sugar  sap- 
trough  held  the  new  baby.  The  first-born  son  had  a  little 
sister.  Nathaniel  Fillmore  his  father,  and  Phoebe  Millard, 
his  mother  joined  the  two  family  names  and  called  their  son 
Millard  Fillmore.  Of  his  ancestry,  his  father's  struggles 
as  a  pioneer,  and  of  his  own  boyhood,  the  president  of  the 
United  States  wrote  in  his  autobiographic  "  Narrative  "  in 
1871.  Dissuaded  by  his  parents  from  enlisting  in  the  army 
at  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  went  to  Sparta,  N.  Y.,  to  learn 
the  trade  of  clothmaking.  The  rude  wooden  machinery 
was  driven  by  a  rapid  mill  stream. 

Human  life  on  the  frontier,  as  his  "  Narrative"  shows, 
was  in  competition  with  the  wolf  and  manners  were  rough. 
The  "  boss  "  at  Sparta  failed  to  keep  his  contract.  After  a 
quarrel,  young  Fillmore  filled  his  knapsack  with  bread  and 
venison,  shouldered  his  gun  to  keep  off  wild  beasts  and 
started  eastward. and  homeward  over  Indian  trails  and  Sulli 
van's  road  of  1779.  His  frontier  experiences,  like  those  of 
Washington,  whose  greatest  school  was  in  the  forest,  were 
among  the  most  profound/stirring  and  formative  in  all  his 
life.  Because  of  his  own  vicissitudes,  including  unjust 
treatment,  he  entertained  to  the  end  of  his  days  a  lively 
sympathy  with  servants,  apprentices  and  all  wage-earners. 

The  Fillmore  family  at  Sempronius  included,  in  1815, 
nine  ;  father,  mother,  five  sons  and  two  daughters.  Millard 
became  apprentice  at  New  Hope  to  two  cloth  dressers.  He 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

worked  in  the  mill  from  June  until  December  and  gained  a 
little  schooling  in  winter.  He  bought  a  dictionary  and 
began  general  reading.  While  attending  to  the  carding 
machine,  he  put  the  dictionary  on  the  desk,  which  he  passed 
every  two  minutes  in  removing  the  rolls,  and  thus  fixed 
in  his  memory  the  definition  of  many  words.  Teaching  an 
elementary  school,  in  which  discipline  was  often  maintained 
only  by  physical  force,  and  attending  a  sawmill  varied  his 
occupation.  Then  in  1818,  to  visit  some  relatives  in 
Buffalo — the  town  laid  out  as  New  Amsterdam — he  tramped 
one  hundred  miles  through  the  "blazed"  forest.  After 
enjoying  the  earthly  paradise  of  the  Genesee  valley  land 
scape,  he  saw  the  blackened  ashes  of  Buffalo  village,  as  left 
by  the  British  torch.  Returning  home  on  foot,  he  attended 
school,  living  at  a  farmer's  house  and  chopping  wood  two 
days  to  pay  for  a  week's  board.  Here  he  first  saw  a  wall 
map  and  heard  a  sentence  parsed.  Here,  best  of  all,  he  met 
and  loved  Abigail  Powers.  For  eight  years  his  sweetheart 
and  for  twenty-seven  years  his  wife,  this  daughter  of  a 
Baptist  minister  moulded  by  her  gracious  charm  as  a  help 
mate,  and  thoroughly  perennially  sweet  influence  the  man 
who  never  forgot  to  be  a  gentleman. 

At  Millard  Fillmore's  birth  our  national  government  was 
but  thirteen  years  old,  and  in  his  initial  year,  began  its 
activities  at  Washington  on  the  Potomac,  then  a  village  of 
three  thousand  people.  Of  the  three  large  cities,  the  popu 
lation  of  New  York  was  sixty,  of  Philadelphia,  forty,  and 
of  Boston  twenty-five  thousand.  Yet  the  westward  tide  of 
emigration  was  rising.  The  Anglo-Saxon  was  marching  on. 


CHAPTER  II. 
Pioneer  in  Religious  Freedom 

How  the  frontier  lad  passed  into  the  profession  of  law, 
he  tells  in  his  "  Narrative." 

His  father,  having  removed  to  Montville,  in  Cayuga 
County,  asked  Judge  Wood  to  take  his  son  Millard  into  his 
office.  One  of  the  lad's  first  surprises  here  was  to  have 
"  Blackstone's  Commentaries,"  founded  upon  English  law, 
put  into  his  hands,  when  he  wished  to  study  the  laws  of 
New  York,  which  are  so  largely  based  on  Dutch  law. 
Even  the  book  of  Blackstone,  as  a  literary  fabric,  follows 
slavishly  a  Dutch  author. 

Young  Fillmore  received  little  explanation  or  instruction 
while  being  used  as  errand  boy.  In  his  twentieth  year,  he 
paid  his  way  by  school  teaching,  reading  law  morning  and 
evening.  A  disagreement — because  the  thrifty  judge  did 
not  approve  of  the  young  man,  under  pecuniary  pressure, 
earning  three  dollars  gained  in  pleading  before  a  justice 
of  the  peace — followed,  and  Millard  Fillmore  in  August, 
1821,  went  west  to  join  his  father  who  had  moved  to  East 
Aurora,  near  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  Again  a  teacher  of  school, 
he  attended  suits  before  justices  on  Saturdays.  In  the 
spring  of  1822.  he  settled  in  Buffalo  for  one  year,  to  the 
spring  of  1823,  teaching  and  acting  as  clerk.  Admitted  to 
the  Bar,  he  opened  an  office  in  East  Aurora  and  practiced 
until  May,  1830.  He  then  removed  to  Buffalo,  which  was 
his  home  until  death.  His  partner  was  Asa  Clary.  He 
was  first  elected  to  the  New  York  Assembly  in  autumn  of 
1828,  and  the  rest  of  his  life,  as  the  final  sentence  in  the 
Narrative  states,  "  is  a  matter  of  public  record.'' 

Mr.  Fillmore' s  habit  of  elementary  teaching  was  kept  up, 
even  after  severing  his  school  relations  in  1826,  but  on  a 
higher  plane.  For  a  number  of  years  he  had  a  class  of 
law  students  in  his  office,  and  many  were  the  alumni. 

3 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

His  pedigogical  experience,  both  as  cause  and  effect,  gave 
Millard  Fillmore  a  life-long  interest  in  education,  and 
especially  in  the  public  schools. 

Throughout  his  whole  career,  whether  as  representative 
in  Congress  or  as  plain  citizen,  lawmaker,  %or  executive,  he 
was  ever  a  champion  of  free  public  education  uncontami- 
nated  by  partisan  politicians  or  ecclesiastics,  besides  taking 
a  genuine  interest  in  good  teachers,  text  books  and  educa 
tional  methods. 

In  1823,  Millard  Fillmore  built  his  house  at  East  Aurora 
and  three  years  later  felt  the  time  for  mating  had  come. 
He  and  Abigail  Powers  were  married  in  the  Episcopal 
church  edifice  at  Moravia,  N.  Y.,  February  5,  1826,  by  the 
rector,  Rev.  Orsanius  H.  Smith,  the  reception  being  at  the 
house  of  her  brother,  Judge  Powers. 

In  her  home  at  East  Aurora,  the  bride  did  not  like  the 
flat  Erie  County  scenery  as  well  as  she  loved  the  glorious 
hills  of  the  fair  and  beautiful  Cayuga  region.  Yet  this 
country  girl,  who  had  brought  her  books  with  her,  was 
quite  equal  to  the  social  demands  of  city  life.  Byron  was 
then  all  the  rage  with  the  susceptible  and  appreciative 
lovers  of  poetry.  When  the  old  town  of  Erie  was  to  be 
divided,  the  choice  of  a  name  for  the  older  portion  was  left 
to  her,  and  she  at  once  suggested  that  of  Newstead,  from 
the  name  of  the  abbey  near  the  poet's  ancestral  home. 

In  1828,  the  new  Erie  County  had  two  districts  and  Mil 
lard  Fillmore  and  David  Burt  were  chosen  as  their  repre 
sentatives  in  the  New  York  Assembly  at  Albany.  The 
former  began  his  work  as  legislator  in  January,  1828,  and 
was  re-elected  in  1830.  From  the  first,  Fillmore  proved 
himself  more  of  a  statesman  than  a  politician,  being  a 
maker  of  precedent  and  a  leader  of  progress.  With  cease 
less  activity  in  the  multifarious  labors  of  organizing  a 
frontier  county  he  brought  in  the  appliances  of  civilization 
and  prepared  the  land  for  succeeding  generations. 


PIONEER  IN  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM 

Two  great  measures,  the  abolition  of  imprisonment  for 
debt  and  that  of  religious  tests  for  witnesses  in  the  Empire 
State,  are  to  be  credited  to  Millard  Fillmore.  The  first, 
passed  by  the  Assembly,  April  2nd,  1831,  amended  and 
finally  signed  by  the  Governor,  April  26th,  was  entitled 
' '  An  Act  to  Abolish  Imprisonment  for  Debt  and  to  Punish 
Fraudulent  Debtors."  Covering  eleven  pages  of  print,  the 
text  was  written  by  Mr.  Fillmore,  except  the  portions  rela 
tive  to  proceedings  in  Courts  of  Record,  which  were  drawn 
by  John  C.  Spencer. 

This  Act  made  a  year  of  jubilee  to  hundreds,  if  not 
thousands  of  released  debtors  in  New  York  State,  and  the 
ransomed  souls  returned  home  in  gladness.  Happily  this 
reform,  in  the  interests  of  humanity,  spread  from  New 
York  to  the  other  states,  until  it  became  universal  in  the 
Union.  In  our  day  few  American  citizens  dream  that  their 
ancestors  were  once  in  prison  for  debt.  Even  Robert 
Morris,  financier  of  the  Revolution,  suffered  thus,  to  the 
shame  of  America  and  the  grief  of  Washington. 

Fillmore  followed  to  their  logical  conclusion  the  princi 
ples  laid  down  by  the  fathers  of  the  Constitution,  in  follow 
ing  the  example  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  from  which  most 
of  our  national  precedents  are  drawn.  In  a  pamphlet  of 
twelve  pages,  entitled  "An  Examination  of  the  Question," 
he  discussed  the  then  vital  theme,  "  Is  it  Right  to  Require 
any  Religious  Test  as  a  Qualification  to  be  a  Witness  in  a 
Court  of  Justice  ?  "  Later  he  brought  in  a  bill,  "  In  As 
sembly,  February,  1832,"  of  which  the  following  is  the 
vital  portion  : 

I.  No  person  shall  be  deemed  incompetent  as  a  witness  in 
a  court,  matter  or  proceeding,  on  account  of  his  or  her  re 
ligious  belief  ;  or  for  want  of  any  religious  belief  ;  nor  shall 
any  witness  be  questioned  as  to  his  or  her  religious  belief  ; 
nor  shall  any  other  testimony  be  received  in  relation  thereto, 
either  before  or  after  such  witnesses  may  be  sworn." 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

The  inconsistency  of  the  old  system,  which  made  the 
validity  of  an  oath  dependent  upon  theoretical  belief,  is 
shown  by  picturing  it  in  detail.  Fillmore  winds  up  his 
arguments  by  showing  what  frauds  are  practised  under 
this  rule  of  exclusion.  For  example,  a  person  who  knew 
all  about  a  murder  could  get  rid  of  testifying  by  giving  out 
to  some  friend  that  he  did  not  believe  in  a  Deity,  or  future 
state  of  rewards  and  punishments.  Such  a  case  was  not 
imaginary,  but  in  the  history  of  eastern  New  York  was  a 
reality. 

In  our  days  of  empire,  when  we  are  neither  colonists  nor 
provincials,  but  have  on  our  soil  many  millions  of  men  of 
various  religions,  some  of  these  being  older  than  Christiani 
ty,  but  too  venerable  and  genuine  to  be  "  false,"  we  have 
adopted  the  wisdom  of  ancient  Rome  and  of  the  Republic 
of  the  United  Netherlands.  We  have  proved  how  useful 
to  the  magistrates  are  those  masses  of  inheritances,  pre 
judices,  customs,  and  sanctions,  which,  collectively,  are 
are  called  "  religion,"  but  are  not  ; — being  simply  symbols 
of  its  reality  and  the  garments  of  its  body.  In  twentieth 
century  American  courts,  the  breaking  of  a  saucer,  the 
cutting  in  half  of  a  fowl  by  a  Chinese,  the  swearing  on  the 
Koran  by  a  man  of  Islam,  or  on  the  Pentateuch  by  an 
Israelite,  the  affirmation  of  the  Friend,  or  the  solemn  word 
of  the  enlightened  man,  who,  taking  the  command  of 
Jesus  seriously,  refrains  from  an  oath,  the  holding  up  of 
the  first  three  fingers — whether  to  mean  the  initial  letter  of 
the  Hebrew  word  for  God,  or  as  the  sign  of  the  Trinity- 
are  all  accepted  as  of  equal  value.  It  is  perfectly  well  un 
derstood  that  a  pile  of  Bibles,  or  a  stack  of  affidavits,  can 
not  make  a  liar  love  the  truth — all  of  which  proves  how 
steadily  mankind  has  advanced  in  the  ability  to  put 
difference  between  the  sign  and  the  substance,  and  to  dis 
cern  between  "religion"  in  name  and  its  reality  in  life. 
The  chief  progress  of  mankind  during  the  past  four 

6 


PIONEER  IN  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM 

hundred  years,  has  been  in  general  education  and  freedom 
of  conscience.  In  both  of  these  Holland  led  Europe,  as 
the  United  States  now  leads  the  world. 

All  honor  to  Millard  Fillmore  as  a  pioneer  of  that  religi 
ous  liberty,  of  which  America  is  the  best  exponent  and  the 
van  leader  among  the  nations  ! 


CHAPTER  HI. 
Early  Politics  in  the  Empire  State. 

When  Fillmore' s  public  career  began,  the  national  parties 
-were  in  process  of  formation.  Like  Caesar's  Gaul,  the 
Empire  State  was  then  divided  into  three  parts — a  narrow 
strip  of  territory,  chiefly  in  the  Hudson  River  Valley  and 
lying  on  the  old  New  Netherland  ;  the  newer  central  region, 
settled  later  ;  and  a  western  half,  only  partially  organized 
and  consisting  in  the  main  of  forest  land.  Pressing  tasks 
lay  before  the  settlers  of  its  newest  portion.  Counties 
were  to  be  marked  out  and  named,  highways  by  land  and 
by  water  created,  and  links  forged  in  the  chain  of  communi 
cation  between  the  great  West  and  the  greatest  sea-gate  of 
the  continent  which  lay  at  the  Island  of  the  States,  or 
Staten  Island. 

The  first  political  parties  in  the  young  American  Re 
public  were  formed,  of  necessity,  on  the  basis  of  economics. 
The  North  was  to  be  manufacturing  and  commercial.  The 
South  was  agricultural  and  likely  to  remain  so.  Any 
party,  to  be  national,  must  be  reared  on  the  ground  of  trade 
and  industry.  Nevertheless,  there  would  come  to  such  a 
party  danger  of  rupture,  whenever  a  great  ethical  question 
presented  itself.  Could  such  a  moral  issue  be  isolated,  it 
would  act  like  new  wine  in  old  bottles  and  burst  the  vessel. 

The  elements  of  such  a  national  and  economic  union,  to 
be  called  the  Whig  party,  already  existed  in  the  third  de 
cade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and,  by  the  cast  of  his 
mind,  Millard  Fillmore  was  sure  to  be  associated  with  it. 
He  began  early  to  make  the  product  of  material  wealth  in 
State  and  Nation  his  serious  and  prolonged  study. 

Yet  even  while  Millard  Fillmore  was  but  a  young  lawyer 
just  rising  into  public  notice,  one  of  these  outbursts  of  the 
ethical  sense  caused  disturbance  of  former  party  lines. 

8 


EARLY  POLITICS  IN  THE  EMPIRE  STATE 

When  Morgan  was  abducted  and  made  to  disappear  from 
mortal  view,  humanity  was  outraged  and  the  anti- Masonic 
feeling  rose  to  high  tide  even  in  national  politics. 

At  that  period  of  American  history,  there  was  a  morbid 
dislike  of  all  secret  meetings.  In  the  terrific  reaction 
which  followed  the  overthrow  of  King  George's  power  in 
America,  increasing  in  strength  during  the  excitement 
created  by  the  French  Revolution,  the  fear  of  monarchy 
and  aristocracy — both  of  which  institutions  secret  fraterni 
ties  were  supposed  to  foster — reached  the  point  of  alarm 
and  even  at  times  of  panic.  It  is  difficult  in  our  day  to 
understand  how  bitter  was  the  suspicion,  and  how  virulent 
was  the  hatred  felt  and  manifested  against  all  social  forms 
that  might  compromise  democracy. 

A  century  ago  the  clergy,  the  doctors  and  the  lawyers 
formed  almost  three  orders  in  American  society.  The 
"  fourth  estate  "  of  journalism  was  not  yet.  The  relations 
between  rich  and  poor  were  as  full  of  friction  and  strain  as 
they  are  now,  for  human  nature  has  not  changed.  Any 
thing  that  might  appear  to  increase  the  power  of  the 
privileged  was  under  suspicion  and  ban.  Secrecy  and  the 
binding  of  men  by  oaths  and  mysteries  seemed  to  savor  of 
the  pit.  Even  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  of  college 
graduates  suffered  malignant  suspicion  because  of  the 
general  hatred  of  the  occult  in  life. 

The  National  Republican  Party,  in  August,  1828,  took 
care  to  nominate  State  candidates  who  were  not  Free 
Masons  ;  while  the  Anti-Masonic  State  Convention,  at 
Utica,  a  few  days  later,  chose  men  pledged  to  oppose  Free 
Masonry.  At  the  polls,  the  latter  secured  over  one-eighth 
of  the  vote  of  the  State.  By  1830,  as  opponents  of  the 
Democrats,  they  had  displaced  the  National  Republicans 
of  New  York,  for  General  Jackson  was  a  Free  Mason. 
Anti-Free  Masonry,  as  a  political  force,  was  extended  into 
other  States  and  in  a  short  time  Pennsvlvania  and  Vermont 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

were  in   the   column   and    Massachusetts   and   Ohio   were 
moving  in  the  same  direction. 

What  happened  ultimately  to  this  movement  belongs  to 
the  common  history  of  all  American  political  parties  which 
are  not  based  on  an  interpretation  of  the  Constitution.  The 
extreme  of  opinion  in  one  direction  always  alienates  one 
portion  to  the  opposite  camp.  Then,  after  a  few  years,  the 
party  disintegrates,  its  elements  being  absorbed  by  the  two 
great  parties  which  interpret  the  Constitution.  The  Con 
servative  and  the  Progressive  principles,  expressive  of  the 
dualism  of  nature,  are  the  only  ones  that  are  permanent. 

Out  of  this  anti-Masonic  agitation  in  New  York  State,  a 
brilliant  group  of  young  politicians  arose  and  appeared, 
first  in  politics  as  anti-Masonic  leaders.  Three  of  them 
were  William  H.  Seward,  Thurlow  Weed,  and  Millard 
Fillmore.  With  the  last-named,  anti-secrecy  became  an 
article  of  faith  and  an  active  principle  throughout  life. 
Opposed  to  any  form  of  occultism  and  loving  the  daylight, 
Fillmore  maintained  consistently  his  moral  convictions. 
Despite  his  connection,  in  later  life,  with  the  "  Native 
American  "  party  this  is  true,  for  though  nominated  by  the 
11  Know  Nothings,"  the  burden  of  his  speeches  is  loyalty 
to  the  Union,  as  the  dominant  passion  of  his  life. 

First  meeting  the  young  lawer  at  a  convention  held  in 
Buffalo  in  1828,  Thurlow  Weed,  struck  by  the  personal  ap 
pearance  of  Millard  Fillmore  saw  in  him  a  man  of  promise. 
The  next  year  the  famous  editor  suggested  the  rising  lawyer 
for  the  Assembly,  of  which  body  both  men,  in  1830,  were 
members,  having  already  become  warm  personal  friends. 

In  February,  1830,  the  State  Convention  at  Albany,  de 
cided  to  call  a  national  anti-Masonic  nominating  convention, 
which  met  in  September,  1840.  The  prospect  for  success 
seemed  good.  John  Quincy  Adams  had  lost  control  of  the 
National  Republicans,  and  although  Henry  Clay  had  de 
veloped  that  amazing  personal  magnetism  and  popularity, 

10 


EARL  Y  POLITICS  IN  77/#  EMPIRE  STATE 

which  almost  made  a  distinctively  Clay  party,  he  was  a 
Free  Mason.  To  force  the  Kentuckian  out  of  the  field  and 
to  steal  a  march  upon  their  enemies,  the  Anti- Masons  met 
at  Baltimore  in  September,  1831,  before  any  other  party 
convention  could  be  held,  and  nominated  William  Wirt  of 
Maryland,  and  Amos  Hllmaker  of  Pennsylvania  as  presi 
dential  candidates.  At  the  election  however,  their  candi 
dates  received  the  electoral  vote  of  only  one  state,  Vermont. 
The  National  Republicans  nominated  Clay,  but  lost  the 
election.  ' '  Killed  at  the  first  fire,  * '  was  the  war- experience 
of  the  Anti-Masonic  party,  which,  soon  ending  its  career  as 
a  national  organization,  made  way  for  the  Whigs. 

Erie  County  soon  became  large  enough  to  set  apart  as  a 
Congressional  District  and  Mr.  Fillmore  was  elected  on  an 
anti-Jackson  ticket,  as  its  first  representative  in  Congress, 
taking  his  seat  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  Dec.  21,  1833,  as  one 
of  the  Opposition.  After  a  short  struggle,  the  President 
was  master  of  the  situation. 

That  "Star  Congress  "  which  met  in  December,  1833, 
was  rich  in  great  men — Clay,  Calhoun,  Adams,  Pierce, 
Choate,  Cambreleng,  McDuffie,  Polk,  Corwin,  Ewing,  Web 
ster,  Fillmore,  and  others.  Of  its  members,  five  became 
presidents,  five  vice-presidents,  eight  secretaries  of  state, 
and  twenty-five  governors. 

Young  America  was  now  in  council.  Nearly  all  the 
statesmen  of  the  Revolution  had  passed  away.  Old  world 
questions  had  been  left  behind.  A  distinctly  American 
order  of  politics,  arising  out  of  the  crude  forces  of  nation 
ality,  was  looming  up.  There  was  no  antiquity  or  any  great 
desire  to  remember  history.  All  was  new  and  buoyant. 
The  effect  of  the  frontier  states  on  our  national  life  was  felt 
and  the  new  problems,  ultimately  solved  in  the  Civil  War, 
were  emerging. 

Socially  the  era  was  interesting.  Costume  in  that  day 
was  ultra-professional  in  marking  social  distinctions.  Con- 

ii 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

gressmen  were  clothed,  both  as  to  mind  and  body,  in  clerical 
style.  White  necties,  black  satin  socks  and  swallow  tailed 
' '  dress  ' '  coats,  made  a  group  of  senators,  when  standing 
together,  look  very  much  like  "  clergymen,''  and,  forsooth, 
dignified  senators  illustrated  the  militancy  of  sacred  corpo 
rations  that  are  not  necessarily  Christian  in  spirit. 

Petitions  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  began  to  come  before 
Congress,  and  the  debates  thereon  developed  both  men  and 
their  forensic  powers.  Many  of  the  passages  of  eloquence, 
since  so  often  reproduced  by  juvenile  orators  in  declama 
tion,  were  then  delivered.  What  was  once  a  local,  almost 
a  parochial  ripple  of  opinion,  was  swelling  into  a  national, 
ocean-like  current  of  conviction.  It  had  not  yet  been  set 
tled  whether  the  treatment  of  the  whole  question  of  slavery 
was  a  matter  for  each  State,  or  for  the  Nation. 

After  routine  activities  and  some  forcible  speeches  on 
public  finance,  Mr.  Fillmore,  as  a  member  of  the  Standing 
Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  presented  on  Feb 
ruary  1 6,  1835,  a  petition  from  the  people  of  Rochester 
praying  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  Henry  Wise  of  Virginia,  afterwards  Governor, 
said  "  I  put  it  to  the  gentleman  from  New  York  what  re 
spect  should  be  paid  to  an  incendiary  document  ?  ' ' 

Mr.  Fillmore  answered  that  "the  people  of  New  York 
were  shocked  at  advertisements  for  runaway  slaves." 

Archer  of  Virginia  made  a  motion  to  lay  the  petition  on 
the  table.  During  the  debate  the  stock  arguments  of  the 
men  in  favor  of  involuntary  servitude,  were  that  their  an 
cestors  had  fixed  slavery  in  the  Constitution  and  that 
northern  men  had  often  gone  south  and  become  slave 
masters. 

Henry  A.  Wise  and  John  Quincy  Adams  were  the  heroes 
of  "  rows  "  in  Congress. 

The  proceedings  took  on  a  comical  air  when  Adams  in 
troduced  a  petition  of  twenty-two  slaves  against  abolition, 

12 


EARLY  POLITICS  IN  THE  EMPIRE  STATE 

said  petition  being  a  hoax.  Then  Wise — the  "Harry 
Percy  of  the  House" — declared  that  if  the  discussion  con 
tinued,  the  seat  of  government  would  be  moved  west,  or 
the  District  of  Columbia  retroverted  to  the  States. 

In  our  day  Governor  Wise's  son  declared  that  "  It  was 

the  short-sighted  policy  of  southern  members to 

allow  Adams  and  the  Abolitionists  to  pose  as  champions  of 
a  right  as  old  as  Magna  Carta — the  right  of  petition." 
John  Quincy  Adams,  who  was  the  incarnation  of  the  cause 
he  maintained,  uttered  in  May,  1836,  the  prophetic  warning, 
that  if  the  South  became  the  theatre  of  battle,  the  United 
States  Government,  in  its  war  powers,  could  abolish  slavery. 

Throughout  this  term  of  two  years,  his  first  experience 
in  Congress,  Mr.  Fillmore,  while  in  loyal  sympathy  with 
his  party,  did  not  attach  to  the  idea  of  a  National  Bank  the 
extreme  importance  which  the  whigs  gave  it.  In  this,  as 
later  history  showed,  he  was  an  independent  thinker  and 
in  advance  of  his  party.  He  worked  hard  on  committees 
and  spoke  when  necessary,  not  to  the  galleries,  but  to  pro 
mote  the  business  of  the  house.  He  gave  earnest  and 
persevering  support  to  the  internal  improvement  policy. 
In  any  legislation  that  affected  the  navigation  of  the  Great 
Lakes,  to  which  Buffalo,  or  Erie  County,  holds  the  key,  he 
was  especially  vigilant  and  painstaking.  The  session  ended 
June  loth,  1834. 

As  early  as  1832,  Buffalo  was  large  enough  to  become  a 
city  and  a  committee  of  sixteen,  of  which  Mr.  Fillmore 
was  a  member,  drew  up  a  municipal  charter.  The  Legisla 
ture  gave  its  approval,  April  2oth,  and  henceforth  the 
village  was  a  municipality.  In  these  active,  strenuous 
days,  Millard  Fillmore  gave  his  best  powers  to  making 
Buffalo  a  bigger,  better,  and  nobler  city.  Few  indeed  are 
the  measures  of  improvement  with  which  his  name,  during 
the  forty-two  years,  from  1832  to  1874,  is  not  connected. 

The  year    1832   was  also  one  of  joy  and   hope,    for    it 

13 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

marked  the  birth  of  his  only  daughter,  Mary  Abigail.  She 
came  into  his  home  four  years  after  the  advent  of  his  son, 
Millard  Powers.  The  law  firm  of  Clary  and  Fillmore, 
which  had  existed  since  1823,  though  with  several  changes, 
was  dissolved  and  the  new  partnership  of  ^illmore  and  Hall 
formed.  This  continued  under  this  name  until  January 
loth,  1836,  when  the  partnership  of  Fillmore,  Hall  and 
Haven  was  made.  Until  nominated  for  Congress  October 
4th,  1836,  he  was  wholly  occupied  with  his  law  practice. 
Judge  Hall  retired  from  the  firm  in  May,  1839,  DUt  Mr. 
Fillmore  and  Mr.  Haven  continued  together  in  active 
practice,  until  the  autumn  of  1847,  when  Mr.  Fillmore  was 
elected  Comptroller  of  the  State. 

Americans  were  getting  ready  to  leave  feudalism  be 
hind.  Ethical  questions  were  beginning  to  surmount  those 
of  purely  economic  or  political  interest.  Although  their 
representative  had  upheld  in  Congress  the  age-old  right  of 
petition  by  his  vote,  the  Abolitionists  of  his  district  were 
not  wholly  sure  of  his  opinions  on  human  servitude. 
Within  a  fortnight  after  Mr.  Fillmore' s  renomination  to 
Congress,  the  Anti-Slavery  Society  of  Erie  County  sub 
mitted  its  catechism  to  the  candidate.  Mr.  Fillmore  replied 
in  three-fold  affirmative,  but  refused  to  be  a  machine 
politician,  even  for  Abolitionists. 

This  answer  sounded  the  keynote  of  his  whole  career. 
He  said,  then  and  always,  "I  am  opposed  to  giving  any 
pledges  that  shall  deprive  me  hereafter  of  all  discretionary 
powers.  .  .  .  If  I  stand  pledged  to  a  particular  course 
of  action,  I  cease  to  be  a  responsible  agent,  but  I  become  a 
mere  machine." 

Re-elected  in  1838,  and  in  1840,  Mr.  Fillmore' s  record 
as  a  Congressman  was  a  continuous  one  for  six  years.  In 
all  matters  that  could  be  referred  to  or  regulated  by  that 
instrument,  his  sole  guide  was  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  On  June  5th,  1834,  he  took  Part  in  tne  de~ 

14 


EARLY  POLITICS  IN  THE  EMPIRE  STATE 

bate  regarding  the  territories  of  Michigan,  Arkansas  and 
Florida,  especially  in  regard  to  the  invasion  of  the  public 
lands  by  squatters.  Always  alert  on  behalf  of  the  Indian, 
he  gave  careful  attention  to  the  Western  (or  Indian) 
Territory,  but  the  bill  was  lost.  The  territory  in  which 
the  "  civilized  tribes  "  found  a  home,  and  out  of  which 
part  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  were  taken  and  the  great 
state  of  Oklahoma  has  been  formed,  was  set  apart  as  un 
organized.  Not  until  1850,  under  President  Fillmore's 
administration,  were  its  inhabitants  brought  even  to  the 
notice  of  the  census.  Politically,  the  condition  of  the 
Indian  was  then  as  low  as  that  of  the  Eta,  or  outcasts  of 
Japan,  before  they  were  raised  to  citizenship,  in  1869,  by 
Mutsuhito  the  Great. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
In  Washington,  Leader  of  the  House 

During  the  administration  of  Martin  Yan  Buren  (1837- 
1841)  a  storm  broke  upon  the  country  in  the  form  of  a 
financial  panic.  Too  much  paper  money  had  led  first  to 
inflation,  then  to  distrust,  and  finally  to  explosion  and  dis 
tress.  In  the  special  session  of  Congress,  called  for  Sep 
tember  4,  1837,  Mr.  Fillmore  spoke  at  length  on  the 
"Surplus  Revenue,"  "Hoping,"  as  he  said,  "to  live  to 
see  the  day  when  "  the  moral  pestilence  of  political  banks 
and  banking  shall  be  unknown. ' '  On  Oct.  4th,  with  speech 
and  vote,  he  opposed  the  issue  of  Treasury  notes. 

International  attention  was  suddenly  turned  to  the  waters 
of  Erie  County.  During  the  Patriot  War  in  Canada,  de 
vised  by  disloyal  Englishmen  and  American  sympathizers, 
a  virtual  invasion  of  the  soil  of  the  United  States  took 
place.  A  party  of  armed  men  from  the  Canadian  shore 
fired  on  and  boarded  the  American  steamer  Caroline  on  the 
night  of  December  29th,  1837.  The  boat  was  set  afire  and 
sent  blazing  down  the  current,  not  to  "plunge  over 
Niagara  Falls,"  but  to  stick  fast  in  the  mud  of  one  of  the 
islands. 

Later  the  responsibility  of  the  affair  was  assumed  by  the 
British  Government  and  Col.  McNab,  the  instigator  of  the 
act,  was  knighted  July  i4th,  1838.  Until  1900,  when  the 
better  feeling  now  prevailing  between  the  two  English- 
speaking  nations  culminated  in  British  sympathy  with  us 
in  the  war  with  Spain,  American  visitors  in  London  could 
see  not  only  the  captured  stars  and  stripes  of  1812,  but  of 
1837  hanging  as  a  trophy  of  this  episode,  so  disgraceful  to 
both  parties. 

In  the  perspective  of  nearly  four  score  years,  one  need 
not  sympathize  very  heartily  with  the  displays  of  rhetorical 

16 


IN    WASHINGTON 

fireworks  that  took  place  along  the  northern  border,  in  some 
other  parts  of  the  country  and  in  Congress,  in  1839,  nor 
even  agree  with  every  statement  then  made  by  the  member 
from  Erie  County.  President  Van  Buren  ignored  the  epi 
sode,  but  Mr.  Fillmore  on  January  i2th,  1838,  introduced 
a  resolution  as  an  amendment  to  a  bill  then  under  discus 
sion,  calling  for  information  from  and  action  of  the  chief 
executive.  Throughout  this  long  excitement  of  1838-1839, 
when  oratory,  of  a  type  peculiar  to  that  era  of  our  nation's 
growth,  was  flaming,  Mr.  Fillmore  took  a  position  at  once 
patriotic  and  judicial.  His  plea  was  for  the  better  protec 
tion  of  the  northern  water  frontier  of  the  United  States. 
He  aimed  to  prevent  an  outbreak  on  the  border  and  have 
the  two  governments  come  to  some  mutually  beneficial  un 
derstanding.  While  other  congressmen  vapored  and  threat 
ened,  Mr.  Fillmore  plead  for  the  defence  of  our  northern 
frontier.  ''The  best  way  to  avoid  a  war  with  Great 
Britain,"  said  he,  "  is  to  show  that  we  are  prepared  to  meet 
her,  because  reasonable  preparations  for  defense  are  better 
than  gasconading." 

On  Dec.  2ist,  1838,  excitement  having  increased  on  the 
frontier,  Mr.  Fillmore  offered  a  resolution  calling  for  the 
correspondence  between  the  two  Governments. 

The  President  responded  by  sending  to  the  house,  on 
January  2,  1841,  a  special  message  with  the  correspondence. 
The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  went  be 
yond  the  particular  case  of  the  Caroline  and  entered  into  a 
general  arraignment  of  the  British  Government — much  in 
the  spirit  of  the  later  Sumner  speech  on  "indirect  dam 
ages"  of  the  "Alabama." 

Mr.  Fillmore  protested  against  this  report,  urging  that 
it  be  not  printed  in  so  incendiary  a  form.  His  patriotism 
and  courage  were  tempered  with  moderation  and  wisdom. 
"  The  true  plan  was  to  prepare  for  war  if  we  had  yet  to 
come  to  it,  but  to  do  nothing  in  the  way  of  bragging.  .  .  . 
2  17 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

Before  we  make  a  declaration  of  war  .  .  .  prepare  for  it." 
We  all  know  how,  in  1812,  other  incompetent  and  unread}' 
commanders  made  a  scapegoat  of  the  hero,  General  William 
Hull.  Our  country,  from  that  series  of  inglorious  land 
campaigns,  had  had  enough  of  rushing  to  arjiis  before  making 
ready  for  it.  In  outline,  we  have  a  foreshadowing  of  Mr. 
Fillmore's  foreign  policy  when  he  became  president,  fully 
equal  as  it  was  to  Washington's  in  prudence,  or  to  Grant's 
or  Roosevelt's  in  firmness,  or  to  Taft's  or  Wilson's  in 
wisdom. 

Not  content  with  words,  Mr.  Fillmore  on  Feb.  25th, 
1841,  sought  to  have  the  Naval  Bill  Appropriation  amended 
so  as  to  provide  for  American  duplication  of  British  naval 
armaments  on  the  lakes.  This  resolution  being  ruled 
"  out  of  order,"  he  appeared  personally  before  the  Navy 
Board  in  1842,  and  urged  that  an  armed  steamer  be  con 
structed  at  Buffalo  to  patrol  the  lakes. 

It  eventuated  that  the  iron  man-of-war,  Michigan,  later 
named  the  Wolverine,  was  built,  not  at  Buffalo,  but  at 
Pittsburg — few  American  cities  having  then  the  facilities 
for  constructing  iron  vessels.  Thousands  came  to  witness 
the  launch,  most  of  them  expecting  to  see  it  sink  at  once, 
because  it  was  made  of  metal.  This  ship,  now  the  oldest 
iron  vessel  in  the  world,  had  a  unique  history,  from  1843 
until  1913.  After  a  long  career  of  peace,  it  acted  as  sentinel 
over  imprisoned  Confederates  and  as  a  defense  against  their 
attempted  rescue.  After  our  civil  war,  it  became  a  de- 
porter  and  repatriater  of  Fenians.  This  last  act  was  a  sort 
of  magnanimous  tit-for-tat  for  McNab's  invasion. 

The  issue  of  the  Caroline  affair  was  creditable  to  both 
nations.  The  treaty  which  was  made  wrote  a  novel  chapter 
in  the  world's  history  and  created  a  precedent  for  the 
future,  when  war  will  be  deemed  barbarism.  It  dismantled 
every  fort  and  dismounted  every  gun,  American  and 
British,  along  a  frontier  of  three  thousand  miles,  furnish- 

18 


IN  WASHINGTON 

ing  to  the  world  a  unique  spectacle  of  two  proud  nations 
at  permanent  peace.  The  radical  creed  of  militarism  was 
given  a  severe  blow,  for  the  United  States  became  ' '  the 
Great  Pacific  Power,"  and  the  Land  of  Peaceful  Frontiers. 
If  mankind  is  governed  by  successful  precedents,  here  is 
one  to  be  followed  for  all  time. 

Unexpectedly  severe  labors  awaited  Mr.  Fillmore  in  the 
Twenty-Sixth  Congress,  beginning  in  December,  1839. 
Political  parties  in  the  House  were  so  nearly  balanced,  that 
the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  one  state's  representation 
would  give  one  party  or  the  other  a  majority.  The 
Democrats  demanded  that  the  contested  New  Jersey  election 
case  involving  the  seating  of  five  out  of  ten  persons  claim 
ing  to  be  members,  should  be  decided  previous  to  the 
election  of  a  speaker. 

The  Whigs,  on  the  contrary,  insisted  that  until  the 
House  was  organized,  the  certificates  of  the  Governor  of 
New  Jersey  would  suffice  as  credentials.  "The  Broad 
Seal  War  "  is  the  name  given  to  this  episode,  because  the 
five  Whig  candidates  had  certificates  of  election  under  the 
broad  seal  of  the  State,  while  the  Democratic  candidates 
contested  the  election  on  the  ground  of  a  miscount  in  one 
county. 

Two  weeks  were  consumed  in  ballotting  and  the  dis 
cussion  ran  on  until  the  end  of  December.  The  case  not 
being  decided,  the  committee  on  elections,  on  which 
Millard  Fillmore  occupied  a  prominent  place,  became  the 
most  important  of  all.  In  the  face  of  a  hostile  majority, 
both  in  the  Committee  and  the  House,  after  months  of 
labor  and  investigation,  he  was  prevented  by  partisan 
tactics  from  reading  his  minority  report. 

Nothing  daunted,  Mr.  Fillmore  printed  his  plea  for 
common  justice  as  "  an  address  to  the  whole  country,"  in 
a  sixteen  page  pamphlet  with  the  title  '•  Address  and  Sup 
pressed  Report  of  the  Minority  of  the  Committee  of  Election 

19 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

in  the  New  Jersey  Case  Presented  to  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  March  loth,  1840,  together  with  the  remarks  of 
Mr.  Fillmore." 

Throughout  this  whole  affair,  his  vigor  and  earnestness 
so  won  the  admiration  of  the  entire  Whig  party  that,  in 
the  political  reaction  which  followed,  the  voters  of  Erie 
County  re-elected  Mr.  Fillmore,  giving  him  the  largest 
majority  ever  known  in  the  district.  He  was  now  a  man 
of  national  importance.  In  battling  for  the  principle  on 
which  all  representative  government  must  ever  rest,  he  had 
spared  no  sacrifice,  and  for  this  he  was  appreciated. 

The  tariff  formed  the  chief  burden  of  business  in  Con 
gress.  The  southern  politicians  threatened  to  nullify 
United  States  law  and  secede,  if  the  imposts  of  1828  were 
not  repealed.  Yet  it  was  evident  that  Protection  in  some 
form  was  to  be  the  settled  policy  of  the  nation. 

The  Whig  party  met  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  Dec.  4th,  1839, 
and  without  adopting  any  platform,  nominated  a  military 
hero,  General  William  Henry  Harrison.  After  the  "  hard 
cider  and  log  cabin  campaign"  followed,  Harison  was 
elected  and  on  March  lyth,  1841,  called  an  extra  session 
of  Congress  to  consider  the  financial  difficulties  of  the 
Government.  At  the  Whig  caucus,  they  having  a  majority 
of  twenty-five  over  the  Democrats,  John  White  of  Kentucky 
received  the  highest  number  of  votes  for  Speaker  of  the 
House,  and  Millard  Fillmore  the  second.  In  such  a  case, 
as  was  customary,  Mr.  Fillmore  was  later  made  chairman 
of  the  most  important  committee,  that  of  Ways  and  Means. 

The  chief  questions  before  Congress  were  economic. 
Mr.  Fillmore  being  an  expert  in  finance,  revenue  and  the 
needs  of  the  growing  nation,  was  now  one  of  the  hardest 
working  members  of  Congress.  When  the  House  sat  as  a 
Committee  of  the  Whole,  on  the  Tariff  Bill,  June  Qth, 
1842,  he  opened  the  debate  in  a  speech  which  occupied 
several  hours  in  its  delivery.  Of  him,  Mr.  Richard  W. 

20 


IN  WASHINGTON 

Thompson,  of   President   Hayes's  cabinet,   wrote   in  after 
years  : 

"  With  the  highest  qualifications,  always  in  steady 
equipoise,  Mr.  Fillmore  held  the  attention  of  all.  The 
fine-spun  theories  of  impassioned  orators  were  exploded  by 
his  powerful  and  faultless  logic.  His  style  of  oratory  was 
wholly  unlike  that  of  Wise  of  Virginia.  He  spoke  with 
mathematical  directness.  If  he  did  not  convince,  he  left 
no  rankling  wound.  With  voice  strong,  full  and  clear,  he 
was  heard  with  universal  attention  in  every  part  of  the 
house. ' '  Editor  Nathan  W.  Sargent  ( ' '  Oliver  Oldschool ' ' ) 
says  that  Mr.  Fillmore  labored  "day  and  night  on  com 
plicated  revenue  bills,  never  discouraged  by  his  frequent 
defeats  and  the  blocking  votes,  but  renewing  his  efforts  at 
every  set  back,  until  finally  the  revenue  acts  of  1842 
crowned  his  efforts,  and  gave  new  life  to  the  country." 

Thus  the  tariff  of  1842  was  almost  a  new  creation,  in 
volving  a  vast  amount  of  labor  and  research,  and  Millard 
Fillmore  is  justly  entitled  to  the  authorship  of  it. 

During  this  session,  Mr.  Fillmore  brought  into  operation  a 
great  safeguard  against  reckless  and  dishonest  expenditure. 
He  prepared  a  digest  of  all  the  laws  of  Congress  which 
authorized  appropriations,  so  that  he  could  instantly  re 
produce  his  authority  for  what  he  recommended.  He 
secured  also  the  passage  of  a  resolution  which  required 
each  Department  to  make  references  to  laws  authorizing 
any  expenditure  when  submitting  estimates  of  expense. 
This  has  ever  since  been  the  practice  of  the  Government. 

Altogether  his  Congressional  experience  in  Washington 
was  a  pleasant  one.  When  in  the  Presidential  chair,  Mr. 
Fillmore  could  heartily  say  "'amen"  to  the  words  of  a 
fellow  "  Silver  Grey,"  an  ex-member  of  the  House,  who 
was  revisiting  ' '  A  comrade  in  that  happy  and  glorious 
Twenty-Seventh  Congress,  which  was  no  less  distinguished 
for  its  service  to  the  nation  than  for  the  occasions  it 
furnished  to  many  warm  and  enduring  friendships." 

21 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

Among  those  pleasantly  remembered  in  after  life  was  that 
with  Spencer  Jarnigan  of  Tennessee,  an  ardent  Whig  and 
friend  of  internal  improvement  under  the  auspices  of  the 
National  Government.  Elected  to  the  State  Senate  in 
1833,  and  a  Harrison  elector  for  the  state  at  large  in  1840 
he  was,  in  1843,  chosen  to  the  United  States  Senate,  taking 
high  rank  as  a  brilliant  orator  and  constitutional  lawyer — a 
man  after  Fillmore's  own  heart,  besides  being  a  shining 
figure  in  the  social  life  of  the  capital.  He  served  until  1847, 
and  when  Taylor  and  Fillmore  were  named  in  1849,  no 
southern  orator  captivated  audiences  in  favor  of  the  Whig 
nominees  more  completely  than  Jarnigan. 

During  "  the  forties,"  the  city  of  Washington  was  a  poor 
place  whence  to  judge  the  United  States.  Here  labor  was 
degraded,  slavery  flaunted  itself,  the  central  government 
was  weak  and  the  behavior  of  members  of  Congress  gave 
visitors  a  bad  impression.  The  city  still  wore  the  air  of 
some  projected  scheme  which  had  failed.  Most  of  the 
built-up  portion  was  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Capitol.  Pigs 
and  cows  roamed  freely  over  the  town,  lay  asleep  on  the 
corners,  chewed  the  cud,  or  rooted,  according  to  their  own 
sweet  will  and  time,  especially  at  the  end  spaces  at  the  tri 
angular  meeting  places  of  avenues.  In  1840,  the  odor  left 
in  the  rooms  of  hotels  by  servants  who,  without  change  of 
clothing,  slept  anywhere  on  the  stairs,  or  in  the  passage 
ways,  was  at  times  insupportable.  On  January  I4th,  1840, 
Mr.  Fillmore  wrote  :  ' '  People  here  know  nothing  of  comfort 
in  cold  weather,  their  houses  are  all  built  for  a  southern 
summer,  but  by  some  mistake  we  have  now  got  a  northern 
winter. ' '  Nevertheless,  Alexander  R.  Shepherd,  the  second 
founder  of  the  city,  whose  statue  now  stands  on  a  lofty 
pedestal,  was  already  born. 

There  were  novelties  also.  The  Antarctic  curiosities 
brought  by  Captain  Wilkes  were  accessible  in  the  museums. 
"  Destiny  "  was  in  the  air  and  it  seemed  the  purpose  of  the 


IN  WASHINGTON 

American  politicians  "  to  rise  on  the  ruins  of  the  British 
Empire."  In  the  shops,  during  these  days  of  inflation  and 
over  abundant  paper  money,  the  "  counterfeit  detector," 
issued  monthly,  was  a  necessity  on  every  counter. 

Congress  then  met  in  the  chamber  which  later  became 
the  Supreme  Court  Room,  and  still  later  the  law  library  in 
the  basement  of  the  Capitol.  Though  for  fifty  years  there 
were  threats  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  the  vaulted 
arches  resounded  with  the  eloquence  of  Clay  and  Webster 
and  the  Union  kept  together.  Whatever  the  orators  might 
be  in  Congress,  they  were  usually  one  in  the  fellowship  of 
drink  and  good  cheer.  At  the  White  House,  in  Tyler's 
time,  there  was  a  sideboard  and  everybody  was  expected  to 
"  take  something  "  as  a  liquid  souvenir  of  friendship.  The 
term  ' '  Washingtonians  ' '  did  not  as  yet  connote  teetotalism. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Magnetic  Telegraph. 

Mr.  Fillmore's  interest  in  the  great  discoveries  of  the  age 
in  which  he  lived  was  keen.  He  considered  photography, 
the  steam  engine,  and  the  electric  telegraph  the  great 
wonders  of  the  century.  He  helped  mightily  to  translate 
the  visions  of  Faraday,  Henry,  and  Farmer  into  practical 
use.  More  than  anyone  else,  he  championed  in  Congress 
;an  appropriation  of  money  to  ensure  success.  Nevertheless, 
so  oculted  had  the  reputation  of  Millard  Fillmore  been,  that 
in  the  latest  biography  of  Morse,  by  his  son  (Boston,  1914) 
the  name  of  the  great  inventor's  steadfast  friend  is  not  even 
mentioned. 

"Morse,"  said  Fillrnore,  "made  of  lightning  a  mes 
senger  of  intelligence  which  annihilated  time  and  space. 
It  brings  all  nations  so  near  together  that  they  can,  as  it 
were,  hear  each  other  speak." 

In  later  life,  Professor  Morse  received  so  many  tokens  of 
the  appreciation  of  the  world  at  large  that  his  breast,  when 
decorated,  was  an  epitome  of  that  first  American  geography 
which  his  father  had  written,  for  there  hung  upon  his  coat 
tokens  from  almost  every  civilized  ruler  in  the  world. 
Though  Morse  did  little  or  nothing  electrical,  he  set  the 
finial  upon  a  great  cathedral  spire  of  investigation  and 
experiment.  Thousands  of  toilers  had  unconsciously  shared 
in  the  work  that  was  crowned  by  Morse.  He  entered  into 
the  labor  of  others,  made  the  recording  apparatus,  com 
pleting  the  long  chain  of  "  inventors  " — from  the  primitive 
rubber  of  amber  and  the  stroker  of  the  cat's  back.  Joseph 
Henry  translated  the  spark  into  force  and  set  it  free  at  a 
distance.  Then  transmitted  energy  came  under  the  control 
of  man,  as  shown  in  the  ringing  of  a  bell.  Morse  made  the 
electric  fire  a  telegraph,  that  is,  a  far-off  writer,  Alexander 
Graham  Bell  made  it  a  talker  from  afar. 

24 


THE  MAGNETIC  TELEGRAPH 

Mr.  Fillmore  mourned  that  the  fighters  who  destroy 
human  life  were  honored  even  more  than  those  who  heal 
and  help  the  race.  Yet  he  was  destined  by  Providence  to 
assist  in  opening  to  the  world  an  Oriental  country  in  which, 
in  our  century,  the  physician  is  placed  in  the  same  line  of 
promotion  and  given  equal  honor  with  the  military  com 
mander.  Though  not  reckoned  among  the  nations  as 
nominally  Christian,  Japan,  a  true  pupil  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
peoples  has  carried  out  practical  Christianity,  leading  all 
nations  in  the  humane  conduct  of  war. 

To  Millard  Fillmore,  possibly  more  than  to  any  other 
man,  the  world  owes  the  successful  inauguration  of  the  ex 
perimental  telegraph  between  Baltimore  and  Washington, 
so  far  as  the  obtaining  of  money  from  the  public  funds  to 
start  it  is  concerned.  In  his  own  words  he  tells  the  story  : 

''Some  time,  I  think  in  1838,  Professor  Morse  exhibited 
in  one  of  the  committee  rooms  of  the  Capitol,  at  Washing 
ton,  what  would  probably  now  be  deemed  a  rude  model  of 
his  telegraph  and  among  others,  I  went  by  invitation  to  see 
it ;  but  I  gave  it  very  little  examination,  and  what  he  pro 
posed  to  do  seemed  so  miraculous  that  I  had  little  faith  in 
it.  The  power  of  the  electric  current  at  short  distances 
was  known,  but  the  fact  was  not  yet  ascertained  how  far 
this  power  could  be  transmitted,  and  it  was  to  settle  this 
point  he  asked  the  aid  of  Congress,  but  for  some  reason  no 
aid  was  given  ;  and  the  next  that  I  heard  was  that  he  was 
in  Europe,  asking  for  aid  to  introduce  his  invention  there." 

Morse  evidently  believed  in  Fillmore,  for  he  called  on 
him  in  New  York  when  on  his  way  to  Congress  in  1842, 
and  requested  him  to  go  again  and  see  his  telegraph 
machine.  Mr.  Fillmore  went  and  saw  it  in  operation. 
From  that  time  the  Congressman  had  faith  in  the  telegraph. 

When  Congress  opened,  Morse  appeared  in  Washington 
with  his  batteries  and  his  thousand  miles  of  wire,  and  set 
up  his  apparatus  in  one  of  the  committee  rooms.  Mr. 

25 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

Fillmore  visited  him  and  ' '  became  convinced  that  here  was 
an  invention  that  was  destined  to  aid  in  the  civilization  and 
progress  of  the  world." 

The  bill  to  aid  Morse  in  laying  an  experimental  line 
from  Baltimore  to  Washington  was  repotted  from  the  Com 
mittee  on  Commerce.  Mr.  Morse  occupied  an  anxious 
seat  in  the  gallery  of  the  Senate  during  the  last  day  and 
evening  of  the  session.  Being  assured  that  there  was  no 
possibility  of  a  vote  being  reached  that  night,  he  came  away 
and  sought  his  bed  to  sleep  the  sleep  of  exhaustion.  Yet 
the  bill  passed,  despite  sneers  and  ridicule.  In  the  morning, 
a  young  woman,  Miss  Ellsworth,  informed  Morse  that  the 
bill  had  become  law,  her  father  being  present  in  Congress 
at  the  close  of  the  session.  Overjoyed  and  grateful,  Morse 
told  her  that  she  should  send  the  initial  message  over  the 
first  line  of  telegraph  that  should  be  opened. 

When  the  time  came,  on  May  24th,  1844,  to  turn  flashes 
into  letters,  the  mother  of  Miss  Ellsworth  suggested  the 
message  "  What  hath  God  wrought  "  !  Morse  transmitted 
it  to  Baltimore  and  the  operator  there  telegraphed  it  back 
to  Washington.  Mr.  Fillmore  testified  concerning  the  bill 
"  When  it  came  up  for  consideration  in  the  House,  it  was 
attacked  by  argument  and  ridicule,  and  finally  passed  by  a 
very  small  majority.  Some  thought  it  a  foolish  expenditure 
of  money  upon  a  chimerical  project,  and  others,  by  way  of 
ridicule,  proposed  to  add  a  sum  to  test  experiments  in 
mesmerism,"  etc. 

"  I,  however,  advocated  the  bill,  and  though  I  could  not 
say  that  the  telegraph  would  do  all  its  inventor  had  pre 
dicted,  nevertheless  I  thought  it  was  possible,  and  even 
probable  that  it  might,  and  if  it  would,  I  should  regard  it 
as  a  national  blessing,  and  $30,000  was  not  much  for  the 
nation  to  pay  on  a  contingency  of  this  kind,  and  the  bill 
was  passed  and  became  a  law  on  the  3rd  of  March,  1843." 

The  gateway  of  a  new  House  Wonderful  was  now  opened 

26 


THE  MAGNETIC  TELEGRAPH 

for  all  the  world.  Three  days  after  the  first  message,  the 
National  Democratic  Convention,  sitting  in  Baltimore, 
nominated  for  President  James  K.  Polk  and  for  Vice- Presi 
dent,  Millard  Fillmore's  recent  rival,  Silas  Wright,  then  in 
the  United  States  Senate.  The  news  of  the  nomination  was 
immediately  sent  by  telegraph  from  Baltimore  to  Mr.  Morse, 
who  showed  the  Senator  the  message.  When  Mr.  Wright 
declined  the  nomination,  Morse  transmitted  the  news  to  the 
convention.  Such  rapidity  of  business  was,  however,  too 
much  for  the  members,  whether  from  the  backwoods  or  the 
cities.  Unbelief  held  the  upper  hand.  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  go  to  Washington  to  confer  with  Mr.  Wright, 
and  the  Convention  adjourned  until  confirmation  was  re 
ceived.  However,  the  telegraph  had  come  to  stay.  It  was 
more  than  a  nine  day's  wonder,  and  became  the  general 
topic  of  conversation. 

In  the  line  of  the  ancestry  of  the  inventors  of  the  tele 
graph,  the  Americans,  Moses  Farmer  and  Joseph  Henry 
should  have  the  most  honored  places.  In  the  line  of  those 
who  nursed  the  invention  to  success,  besides  Morse,  Vail, 
and  Cornell,  Millard  Fillmore's  place  is  secure. 

Nevertheless  surprise  and  incredulity  waited  even  upon 
demonstration.  Many  were  the  lectures,  exhibitions,  ex 
periments,  long  journeys  and  anxious  days  and  nights, 
which  Ezra  Cornell  was  yet  to  take  before  even  so  practical 
a  people  as  the  Americans  were  ready  to  stop  their  jesting 
and  to  believe,  invest,  and  utilize  what  is  now  a  daily,  yes, 
an  hourly  necessity,  and  has  given  the  world  a  new  nervous 
system. 

In  Washington,  the  "cavalier  reign"  of  Tyler  was  suc 
ceeded  in  the  White  House  by  the  "  Puritan  austerity"  of 
Mrs.  Polk.  The  4th  of  March,  1845,  was  a  rainy  day. 
The  worst  time  of  the  year  had  been  made  the  elect  one  for 
beginning  a  new  government.  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  then 
unpaved,  was  slippery  with  mud,  and  some  of  the  marching 

27 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

soldiers  fell  down.  On  stormy  inauguration  days,  like  that 
of  Folk's  in  1845  and  Taft's  in  1909,  and  for  a  few  hours 
later,  the  great  American  people  think  that  the  date  should 
be  changed  ;  but  "as  soon  as  their  feet  are  dry,  they  forget 
all  about  it."  • 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Champion  of  American  Principles. 

The  problem  of  immigration  is  a  hydra-headed  one.  It 
was  as  keen  in  Mr.  Fillmore's  day  as  in  ours.  ...  It  was 
not  then  a  question  of  race  or  color,  nor  had  Asia  loomed 
up,  either  as  a  labor  market  or  as  a  feeder  of  the  American 
population.  Yet  it  threatened  a  complication  even  worse — 
if  not  the  curse  of  a  state  religion,  at  least  a  form  of  the 
union  of  Church  and  State,  from  which  danger,  by  the  war 
of  independence,  from  Great  Britain  and  from  Europe,  we 
had  been  delivered. 

The  crisis,  under  Governor  William  H.  Seward's  ad 
ministration,  showed  Millard  Fillmore  to  be  the  unquailing 
champion  of  American  ideas  and  principles.  As  the  ques 
tion  of  immigration  still  presses  and,  by  the  action  of  Cali 
fornia  in  her  land  laws  of  1913,  has  shown  how  our  national 
integrity,  as  embodied  in  the  treaties  as  part  of  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land  may  be  involved,  we  here  sketch  in  brief 
the  historical  outlines  of  the  subject. 

Immediately  after  the  formation  of  our  Government  in 
1787,  and  until  the  war  of  1812,  this  nativistic  idea  domi 
nated  and  divided  the  men  of  the  two  great  parties.  The 
feeling  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  was  aggravated  by  the 
French  and  British  struggles  of  the  Napoleonic  era.  Both 
American  parties  expressed  anxiety  to  preserve  neutrality, 
but  the  Federalists  desired  war  with  France  and  the 
Democratic-Republican  party  war  against  Great  Britain. 
The  immigrants  of  this  era,  being  either  United  Irishmen, 
or  men  driven  from  home  because  of  their  hostility  to  the 
British  Government,  naturally  took  the  Democratic  view 
of  things,  while  the  Federalists  became  an  anti-alien  party. 
This  alliance  of  the  foreign  emigrants  with  the  Democratic 
party  has  been  in  the  main  kept  up  to  the  present  day. 

29 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

In  the  history  of  naturalization,  the  first  act,  of  1790, 
made  only  two  years's  residence  necessary,  but  in  1795  the 
time  was  increased  to  five  years.  Insistence  on  brevity  or 
length  of  residence  previous  to  naturalization  now  became 
an  index  of  party  policy.  When  the  Federalists  got  into 
power,  taking  advantage  of  the  war-fever  against  France, 
they  passed  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  and  made  fourteen 
years  the  period  of  necessary  residence  before  naturaliza 
tion.  In  the  reaction  of  Jefferson's  election,  when  the 
Democrats  came  into  power,  in  1800,  they  fixed  the  period 
of  residence  at  five  years.  This  meant  a  new  stream  of 
reinforcement  for  the  Democratic  party.  Among  those  in 
Congress  who  voted  for  the  declaration  of  war  against  Great 
Britain,  in  1812,  were  six  former  members  of  the  Society 
of  United  Irishmen. 

The  matter  came  up  afterwards  in  the  Hartford  Conven 
tion,  but  after  the  peace  of  1815  and  "  the  era  of  good  feel 
ing,"  the  opposition  to  aliens  ceased.  There  was  no  resur 
rection  of  nativism  until  1835,  in  New  York  city,  and  again 
in  1843,  when  the  victorious  Democratic  mayor  gave  many 
offices  to  foreign-born  citizens.  This  added  fuel  to  the  fire 
and  the  Native  American  movement  spread  southward. 
In  the  Philadelphia  riots,  blood  was  shed  and  two  Catholic 
churches  were  burned. 

Quite  early  in  its  municipal  history,  Buffalo  was  in  favor 
with  the  immigrant  Germans,  and  in  a  generation  or  so  it 
had  a  notable  proportion  of  people  from  the  Fatherland, 
who  brought  their  thrift,  industry,  and  generally  good 
neighborly  qualities  to  the  upbuilding  of  the  city.  In  time, 
these  people  notably  stimulated  the  popular  musical  and 
artistic  taste,  and  enriched  the  facilities  of  culture.  Mr. 
Fillmore  usually  distinguished  in  practice  between  Dutch 
and  German.  He  did  not  employ  the  word  "Dutch" 
when  he  meant  "German,"  and  did  not  speak  of  the 
Germans  when  he  meant  Netherlanders.  He  was,  usually 

30 


CHAMPION  OF  AMERICAN  PRINCIPLES 

at  least,  free  from  this  abominable  solecism  of  the  uncul 
tured  American. 

Besides  noting  the  increasing  German  immigration  to 
this  country  and  how  prone  the  people  from  the  Fatherland 
were  to  settle  along  the  great  thoroughfares  from  New  York 
to  Cincinnati,  Mr.  Fillmore  had  a  high  idea  of  their  in 
telligence  and  solid  traits  of  character.  They  were  ac 
quiring  the  rights  of  suffrage  by  naturalization,  yet  there 
was  no  Whig  newspaper  between  the  Hudson  and  the  Mis 
sissippi.  Resolving  to  have  German  journalism  in  Buffalo, 
he  with  other  gentlemen  secured  the  services  of  a  capable 
and  intelligent  editor,  and  a  Whig  German  newspaper  was 
started  which  flourished  for  some  years. 

This  was  Mr.  Fillmore' s  first  experience  with  any  large 
numbers  of  immigrants  from  Europe.  Yet,  besides  noticing 
the  tendency  of  the  newcomers  from  various  countries  to 
settle,  even  to  congestion,  in  the  large  cities  he  was  struck 
with  the  fact  that  they  brought  their  old  world  notions  with 
them.  Nor  would  they  easily  relinquish  them.  Some 
wanted  a  virtual  union  of  Church  and  State,  at  least  in  the 
matter  of  education.  They  would  have  the  school  fund 
divided  so  as  to  support  their  church  schools,  in  which  the 
particular  dogmas  and  ritual  of  one  form  of  religion  was 
taught.  When  he  saw  politicians  and  statesmen  uniting 
with  priests  to  introduce  this  European  idea  into  the  United 
States,  Mr.  Fillmore,  as  a  true  American  and  a  champion 
of  freedom  of  conscience,  took  the  alarm. 

It  was  during  the  decade,  from  1835  to  1845,  that  the 
warm  friendship  of  Mr.  Fillmore  and  Mr.  Seward  began  to 
cool.  Poorly  informed  persons  imagine  that  these  partners 
in  the  degrading  business  of  rewarding  partisans  with 
federal  patronage  quarreled  solely  on  division  of  spoil,  in 
1850.  Previous,  however,  to  any  or  all  differences  on  the 
ethical  and  legal  phases  of  slavery,  or  the  alienation  of  feel 
ing  between  President  and  Senator,  because  of  appoint- 

31 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

ments  to  office,  there  was  a  still  more  serious  matter,  on 
which  these  two  statesmen  could  never  see  eye  to  eye. 
From  early  boyhood,  Fillmore  held  with  profound  convic 
tion  to  the  American  idea  in  public  education.  He  was  not 
only  stalwart  in  his  ideal  as  to  the  complete  separation  of 
Church  and  State,  but  he  insisted  that  sectarians  should 
pay  for  their  own  pedagogics  and  propaganda.  Money 
raised  by  taxation  was  not  to  be  used  for  dogmatics. 

When  Seward,  elected  as  the  first  Whig  Governor  of 
New  York  in  1838,  and  re-elected  in  1840,  recommended 
division  of  the  public  funds  in  support  of  the  sects  in  edu 
cation,  Fillmore  was  horrified.  He  was  unalterably  opposed 
to  this.  He  believed  in  the  public  teaching  of  ethics,  con 
duct  and  duty,  but  not  of  "  religion,"  so  called.  As  organ 
ized  and  supervised  by  men  who  make  a  living  by  teaching 
dogmas,  the  church  may  or  may  not  promote  lofty  morals. 
Fillmore  was  always  a  native  American  of  the  stalwart  type. 

Those  who  date  the  estrangement  of  these  two  statesmen 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Taylor  administration  look  only 
on  the  surface,  or  to  the  occasion  rather  than  to  the  cause. 
Something  deeper  than  the  distribution  of  official  patronage, 
even  a  loyal  adherence  to  a  fundamental  American  principle, 
very  creditable  to  Fillmore,  separated  these  patriots.  In 
this,  Fillmore  was  nearer  to  the  mind  of  the  fathers  of  the 
Constitution  than  was  Seward.  He  had  no  antipathy  to 
men  because  they  were  aliens,  but  he  prized  American  lib 
erty  and  the  privileges  of  the  republic  too  highly  to  believe 
that  foreigners  could  at  once  appreciate  them,  or  that  they 
should  be  prematurely  allowed  to  receive  or  exercise  the 
highest  of  these  at  once. 

On  the  matter  of  race-hatred,  Mr.  Fillmore's  record  is  a 
noble  one.  His  personal  relations  with  the  negro  were  most 
kindly.  He  believed  in  absolute  truth  and  justice  to  the 
black  man  and  to  slaves — subject  to  the  Constitution,  which 
from  him  received  unquestioning  obedience  and  loyalty  to 
both  the  spirit  and  the  letter. 

32 


CHAMPION  OF  AMERICAN  PRINCIPLES 

In  1844,  Millard  Fillmore  was  nominated  by  the  Whigs 
for  the  Governorship  of  the  State  of  New  York,  against 
Silas  Wright.  He  would  almost  to  a  certainty  have  been 
elected,  but  for  the  unfortunate  pro-slavery  letter  which 
Mr.  Clay  wrote  to  a  friend.  He  penned  the  missive,  think 
ing  that  it  would  not  see  the  light  until  after  election,  but 
it  became  public  before  he  knew  it.  Henry  Clay  thus 
helped  the  Abolitionists  in  many  New  York  counties,  so 
that  Alvin  Stewart,  their  candidate,  got  15,000  votes. 

Until  Clay's  indiscretion,  many  voters  did  not  care 
whether  Texas  came  in  with,  or  without  slavery.  Fond 
partisans  sang  with  confidence,— 

"The  country's  risin' 

For  Clay  and  Frelinghuysen, ' ' 

but  enough  voters  declined  to  rise.  Still  undaunted,  Henry 
Clay  remained  in  politics ;  but  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  turned 
his  activities  to  education,  and  was  long  the  honored  Presi 
dent  of  Rutgers  College.  L,ike  Mr.  Taft  he  became  the 
teaching  statesman. 

In  1846,  for  the  first  time,  the  comptroller  of  New  York 
State  was  elected  by  the  people,  and  Millard  Fillmore  was 
chosen.  There  was  little  pecuniary  allurement  to  one  who 
had  always  plenty  of  lucrative  cases  on  hand,  with  an  in 
come  of  $10,000  a  year  ;  for  the  salary  was  then  but  $2,500. 

Mr.  Filmore  came  into  his  new  position  as  a  man  ideally 
qualified  by  character,  temperament,  habits,  and  experience. 
He  was  above  all  cautious,  withal  industrious  and  fond  of 
work.  He  had  the  health  and  mental  vigor  to  match  his 
complicated  task  and  a  natural  aptitude  for  financial  affairs, 
besides  notable  experience  in  Congress,  to  say  nothing  of 
his  love  for  the  Commonwealth  in  which  he  had  been  born 
and  bred. 

Being  soon  called  into  national  service,  Mr.  Fillmore  had 
only  time  to  write  one  official  report.  He  began  the  duties 
of  his  office  Jan.  ist,  1848,  was  nominated  for  Vice  Presi- 

3  33 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

dent  in  June  and  was  elected  in  November.  He  resigned 
his  office  as  Comptroller  on  February  2oth,  1849,  having 
served  not  quite  fourteen  months. 

Unalterably  opposed ,  as  he  was,  to  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  Mr.  Fillmore  proposed  a  method  tiased  on  the  bonds 
of  the  National  Government.  In  a  word,  he  anticipated 
our  national  banking  system  which,  since  the  war  between 
the  States,  has  given  stability  to  our  finances.  During  a 
period  of  unparalleled  growth,  such  steadiness  would  not 
have  been  possible  under  old  methods.  In  this  twentieth 
century,  when  we  have  seen  our  twenty  thousand  banks, 
two  thousand  millions  of  hard  and  nine  hundred  millions  of 
paper  dollars,  and  a  three  billion  dollar  currency,  we  may 
well  be  thankful  that  so  cautious  a  financier  as  Millard 
Fillmore  held  this  high  office  and  pointed  out  a  better  way. 

Mr.  Fillmore's  resignation  was  to  take  effect  on  the  2oth 
of  February,  1849,  so  that  his  successor  could  be  in  Albany 
before  he  should  have  reached  Washington. 

One  of  the  last  acts  of  President  Polk  was  to  invite 
Zachary  Taylor  and  Millard  Fillmore  to  dine  with  him  in 
the  White  House,  which  they  did.  "The  King  is  dead. 
Long  live  the  King  !  "  Thus  peacefully  and  with  true 
courtesy,  one  administration  made  way  for  another. 


34 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Parties  and  Politics  in  1848. 

The  questions  of  the  extension  of  slavery  and  its  logical 
sequence,  the  Mexican  War,  had  been  raised  for  the  express 
purpose,  it  seemed  to  some,  of  wrecking  the  Whig  party. 
Politics  were  made  sectional  by  drawing  a  line  between 
voluntary  and  slave  labor.  Calhoun,  once  an  ally,  loomed 
up  as  the  arch-marplot.  For  years  he  had  been  scheming 
to  dissolve  the  fragile  bond  uniting  Northern  and  Southern 
Whigs  in  a  national  party.  His  "  Texas  question,"  pre 
lude  to  the  strife  with  Mexico,  created  the  fissure.  The 
crafty  enemies  of  the  Whigs  wanted  them  to  vote  against 
hostilities,  in  order  to  array  the  two  sectional  elements  of 
the  party  against  one  another.  A  vote  against  the  war  was 
more  dangerous  to  a  Southern  than  to  a  Northern  Whig. 
Nevertheless,  when  it  was  declared  that  war  had  arisen  by 
the  act  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  the  Whigs  voted  steadily 
for  supplies,  on  the  principle  that  the  army  once  thrust 
into  danger  must  be  supported.  This  sort  of  craft  still 
flourishes,  as  the  favorite  trick  of  politicians  and  contractors. 

Again  the  Whig  armor  was  penetrated,  when,  after  peace, 
the  Wilmot  Proviso  was  introduced.  This  prohibited  slavery 
in  the  new  territory  ceded  from  Mexico.  Month  by  month, 
as  the  question  was  debated  in  Congress,  the  Democrats, 
presenting  a  solid  front  of  opposition,  drove  all  advocates  of 
the  Proviso  out  of  their  organization.  The  Whigs  were 
thus  so  disastrously  affected  that  a  "  reorganization  of 
parties "  was  talked  of.  As  usual,  New  York  was  the 
storm  center  and  soon  the  crisis  was  precipitated.  All  at 
tempts  to  stifle  discussion  or  to  postpone  action  were  in 
vain.  It  was  now  clearly  seen  that  Seward  and  Fillmore, 
who  had  long  before  diverged  in  opinion,  on  the  school 
fund,  were  at  the  parting  of  the  ways.  The  latter  was 

35 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

rigidly  conservative  in  mind  and  a  strict  constructionist  of 
the  Constitution,  while  William  H.  Seward  was  a  bold 
interpreter  and  fearless  progressive.  The  latter  had  a 
prophetic  eye.  Fillmore  saw  only  the  Constitution.  The 
two  antagonists  were  soon  to  become  open  enemies. 

On  the  2yth  of  September,  1848,  in  the  convention  at 
Syracuse,  an  anti-slavery  resolution,  which  also  favored 
Mr.  Seward,  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  76  to  40.  At  once, 
the  Chairman  of  the  Convention,  Mr.  Granger,  threw  down 
his  gavel  and  with  his  delegates  left  the  hall.  Among  these 
bolting  delegates  were  several  prominent  men  who  had  gray 
hair.  Thereafter  this  "  Fillmore  wing"  of  the  party  was 
called  "The  Silver  Greys."  "For  this  cause,"  said  Mr. 
Granger,  ' '  I  shall  fight  as  long  as  I  live,  nor  do  I  ask  any 
higher  post  than  to  be  a  private  in  the  ranks  of  the  Silver 
Greys." 

Henceforth  there  were  two  visible  factions  in  the  Whig 
party.  The  one  led  by  Seward,  dominated  the  councils  of 
President  Zachary  Taylor.  The  other,  headed  by  Fillmore, 
was  advised,  with  power,  by  Daniel  Webster.  Fillmore  was 
influenced  though  far  from  overcome,  or  even  overshadowed, 
by  that  remarkable  personality.  With  such  factors,  na 
tional  and  personal  at  work, — the  slavery  question  and  the 
division  of  spoils — low  temperature  in  the  relations  between 
the  President  and  the  Vice-President  and  the  satellites  and 
followers  of  each,  speedily  developed.  Nevertheless,  this 
interplay  of  radicals  and  conservatives  kept  the  pace  of  the 
nation  toward  war  from  being  too  rapid. 

No  sort  of  riches  is  more  deceitful  than  those  gained,  or 
supposed  to  be  gained  by  war,  and  the  American  people 
were  again  to  be  deluded.  As  the  end  of  Polk's  adminis 
tration  drew  near,  the  excitable  American  people,  carried 
away  as  usual  by  the  dangerous  enthusiasm  of  a  successful 
war,  clamored  for  a  military  candidate.  The  Democrats, 
having  purged  their  party  of  upholders  of  the  Wilmot  Pro- 

36 


PARTIES  AND  POLITICS  IN  1848 

viso,  now  sufficiently  homogeneous,  defied  all  danger  from 
the  slavery  question.  The  Whigs,  however,  were  driven 
to  seek  a  standard  bearer,  who  should,  by  his  having 
touched  the  popular  heart,  conceal  their  own  lack  of  unity. 
Such  a  figure-head  was  Zachary  Taylor.  Having  spent 
nearly  all  of  his  life  in  military  duty  on  the  frontier,  and  as 
it  was  said,  having  never  voted,  he  was  densely  ignorant  of 
civil  administration,  and  on  many  delicate  questions  of  gov 
ernment  as  guileless  as  a  lamb.  Yet  these  very  defects,  in 
his  case,  helped  both  his  nomination  and  election.  Since 
he  disliked  to  use  the  veto  power,  he  was  very  popular  in 
the  North.  The  owner  of  three  hundred  slaves,  he  was 
acceptable  at  the  South.  Before  the  whole  country,  he 
professed  to  be  a  "  people's  candidate." 

In  Philadelphia,  on  the  24th  of  February,  1847,  Henry 
Clay  held  a  reception  which  eclipsed  in  popular  enthusiasm 
even  the  reception  of  Lafayette  in  1824.  At  least  five 
thousand  women  swelled  the  throng  that  wafted  the  incense 
of  joyous  appreciation  to  the  captivating  man  who,  in  the 
Quaker  city,  had  broken  all  records  of  popularity.  Clay 
fully  expected  the  nomination. 

Thurlow  Weed  and  Millard  Fillmore  had  thought  first  of 
Abbott  Lawrence,  of  Massachusetts  ;  who  had  been  with 
Fillmore  in  Congress,  for  the  vice-presidency,  and  they  two 
conferred  with  this  gentleman  at  the  Astor  House.  But  in 
the  November  Convention,  it  was  clear  that  Clay's  friends 
were  violently  against  the  idea  of  a  New  England  man  for 
vice-president,  declaring  that  they  would  "not  have  cotton 
at  both  ends  of  the  ticket."  Mr.  Lawrence  was  a  dry 
goods  merchant  and  a  prominent  manufacturer  of  cotton 
goods.  He  was  also  one  of  the  founders  of  the  city  of  mills 
on  the  Merrimac,  one  of  the  largest  of  its  sort  in  the  world, 
and  which  bears  his  name.  In  the  colloquial,  Clay's  friends 
' '  refused  to  cotton  to  its  maker. ' ' 

Mr.  Seward  was  not  named  as  vice-president,  because  he 

37 


MILLARD  FILL  MO  RE 

could  not  secure  * '  the  American  vote, ' '  he  having  offended 
tens  of  thousands  of  voters  by  recommending  a  division  of 
the  school  fund  for  sectarian  teaching. 

The  managers  of  the  convention,  which  met  at  Phila 
delphia  in  the  old  Chinese  Museum,  on  June  7th,  1848,  de 
cided  that  the  claims  and  necessities  of  "  availability  "  were 
greater  than  those  of  popularity,  and  on  the  second  day  and 
fourth  ballot,  Taylor  received  171  votes  to  107  for  all  others. 

After  Taylor's  nomination  by  the  Philadelphia  conven 
tion,  there  was  a  stormy  recess.  A  caucus  was  held  and 
Mr.  Kenneth  Raynor  of  North  Carolina,  afterwards  Solici 
tor  of  the  Treasury  under  President  Garfield,  came  within 
one  vote  of  nomination.  When  the  convention  reassembled, 
Mr.  John  A.  Collier  of  New  York,  a  former  fellow  member 
in  Congress  and  predecessor  in  the  Comptrollership  of  Mr. 
Fillmore,  made  a  conciliatory  speech.  He  portrayed  the 
sorrow  and  disappointment  of  the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay,  but 
said  also  that  he  rose  with  a  peace  offering,  which  would  go 
far  to  reconcile  the  friends  and  prevent  a  breach  in  the 
party.  He  then  appealed  for  a  unanimous  response  to 
the  nomination,  which  he  made,  of  Millard  Fillmore  for 
the  vice-presidency !  This  coup  d'1  etat  was  successful, 
and  the  friends  of  Abbott  Lawrence  approved. 

From  that  day  to  the  election,  Thurlow  Weed  and  Millard 
Fillmore  were  constantly  together. 

Two  dreadfully  disappointed  men  were  Clay,  now  over 
seventjr  years  of  age,  and  Webster,  who  was  sixt}r-five. 
Their  chagrin  was  pitiful  to  behold.  Yet  the  spirit  of 
Webster  rose  with  defeat. 

Called  from  the  army  to  the  chief  office  in  the  gift  of  the 
nation,  Taylor  was  densely  ignorant  of  the  details  of  civil 
procedure.  Until  informed  to  the  contrary  by  Mr.  J.  J. 
Crittenden,  he  supposed  that  the  vice-president  was  ex  officio 
a  member  of  the  Executive  Council.  On  the  discovery  of 
this  fact,  Taylor,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Fillmore,  expressed  his 

38 


PARTIES  AND  POLIJ^ICS  IN  1848 

regret  that  he  was  not  to  enjoy  his  presence  in  the  Cabinet. 
Nevertheless  he  should  rely  upon  his  experience  and  ask 
his  views  on  all  great  questions. 

Zachary  Taylor  was  sixty-four  years  old  and  in  some  re 
spects  the  least  competent  candidate  for  the  presidency 
known  in  the  country's  history.  Apart  from  dispensing 
the  spoils  of  office,  the  ex-army  officer,  now  President,  was 
on  trial  as  to  his  statesmanship,  In  American  history  the 
failures  of  military  men,  when  put  into  the  Presidential 
chair,  outstand  like  great  landmarks  of  warning.  Such 
presidents  have  been  either  "  heroes  "  in  civil  life,  or  they 
were  safe  because  nonentities.  They  were  very  apt  to  be 
like  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  "who  had  no  great  faith  in 
the  progress  of  humanity,  no  lively  feeling  of  the  strength 
and  majesty  of  moral  powers." 

Furthermore,  all  the  new  questions,  whether  railroad, 
canal,  public  lands,  or  what  not,  were  in  1850  made  white 
hot  in  the  electric  current  of  the  slavery  question.  The 
most  harmless  matter  became  a  red  rag  in  the  eyes  of  men 
who  were  insane  on  the  question  of  perpetuating  African 
servitude.  Nevertheless,  seeing  clearly  the  bold  headlands 
of  national  destiny,  President  Taylor  rose  to  the  occasion. 
In  a  time  of  partisan  heat  and  seditional  dangers,  he  might 
have  been,  except  for  his  untimely  decease,  a  mighty  maker 
of  American  history. 

"Geography  is  half"  of  what  Sherman  called  "hell", 
but  the  attempt  to  extend  the  area  of  human  servitude 
made  it  the  whole  of  war  in  the  United  States.  In  its 
rampancy,  slavery  was  striving  to  be  national,  but  "Mexico 
was  avenged  on  her  spoiler  " ,  for  the  acquisition  of  Texas 
reopened  the  fatal  controversy  between  slavery  and  freedom, 
which  the  Missouri  Compromise  had  put  to  sleep  in  Con- 
gress  for  thirty  years.  Nevertheless  Taylor  faced  his  task 
honestly.  He  thwarted  Calhoun's  plans  and  guarded  the 
territories  against  Mexico.  He  handled  with  firmness  the 

39 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

dangerous  controversy  between  Texas  and  New  Mexico, 
of  state  right  and  national  suprenac)7  which  Mr.  Fillmore 
finally  settled.  He  encouraged  whaling  in  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  and  was  broad  minded  and  far  seeing  as  to  Hawaii. 
During  his  administration  three  territ6ries.were  organized. 

Within  the  Executive  Mansion,  President  Taylor's  life 
was  free  from  smart  and  care.  Mrs.  Henry  L.  Scott,  his 
niece,  then  considered  the  handsomest  woman  in  Washing 
ton,  presided  "with  the  artlessness  of  a  rustic  belle  and  the 
grace  of  a  duchess  ",  dispensing  a  noble  hospitality.  In 
the  White  House  gas  was  introduced  and  the  rooms  were 
brightened  with  new  furniture  and  carpets.  As  for  the 
President,  he  was  a  popular  citizen,  and  was  noted  for  his 
regular  walks  in  Washington. 

There  was  as  yet  no  serious  external  political  difference 
between  Fillmore  and  Seward  ;  but,  in  the  division  of  the 
spoil,  there  is  always  danger  from  adherents  and  camp  fol 
lowers.  Senator  Seward  and  the  Vice- President  elect  dined 
with  Thurlow  Weed  at  Albany  on  their  way  to  Washington. 


40 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Vice-President.     Assertion  of  Nationalism. 

Millard  Fillmore  was  vice-president  of  the  United  States 
at  the  beginning  of  the  last  decade  of  the  first  era  of  the 
Nation  and  Government.  A  Whig,  he  faced  a  Democratic 
majority  in  the  Senate,  which  met  March  3,  1849. 

Howell  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  was  made  Speaker  of  the 
House,  in  which  there  was  no  party  majority,  the  Free 
Soilers  holding  the  balance  of  power. 

The  winter  of  i849-'5o  was  one  of  fierce  agitation.  The 
debates  were  prolonged  during  nine  months,  or  273  days, 
with  many  night  sessions,  continuing  to  the  end  of  the 
summer.  The  heat  of  controversy  kept  pace  with  that  of 
the  weather.  "The  question  of  California  was  splitting 
the  nation."  Its  admission  as  a  free  state  meant  the  break 
ing  of  "the  balance  of  power  "  between  the  free  and  slave 
states.  Within  a  few  days,  after  Henry  Clay  had  intro 
duced  his  Compromise  Measure,  on  February  13,  1850,  this 
commonwealth  on  the  Pacific  coast  made  application  for 
admission  as  a  state,  but  not  until  autumn  opened  did  Clay's 
separate  bills  become  law.  On  September  9th,  1850,  Cali 
fornia  was  made  a  State  in  the  Union,  and  three  weeks 
later  Congress  adjourned. 

During  this  historic  session,  much  like  that  of  1914, 
tendencies  and  personages,  typical  of  their  time  and  in  a 
sense  culminations  of  the  old,  were  nearing  their  acme,  to 
pass  away  forever. 

In  his  book  entitled  "The  War  Between  the  States," 
Alexander  H.  Stephens  gives  a  brilliant  description  of  the 
United  States  Senate,  full  as  it  was  of  rising,  risen,  and 
setting  suns.  He  speaks  of  it  as  "  that  grandest  intellectual 
constellation— moral  qualities  and  all  considered — which 
was  ever  beheld  in  the  political  firmament  of  this  or  any 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

other  country The  crowning  halo  was  imparted 

by  Millard  Fillmore,  who  presided  over  the  whole  as  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States.  He  was  of  most  imper 
turbable  temper  and  of  a  personal  appearance  in  every  way 
impressive.  There  was  dignity  in  the  head  of  the  ambassa 
dors  of  the  States  in  Grand  Council  assembled,  which  fully 
accorded  with  all  the  surroundings.  Order  and  decorum, 
with  all  the  proprieties  which  should  govern  high  debate, 
were  stamped  on  his  brow.  Of  him,  taken  together,  it 
might  be  said  with  as  much  truth  as  of  any  other  public 
character  I  ever  met  with,  '  there  indeed  is  a  man,  in  whom 
there  is  no  guile.''  Stephens'  eulogy  of  Fillmore  reads 
almost  like  the  Japanese  proverb,  "The  gods  have  their 
throne  on  the  brow  of  a  just  man." 

In  the  very  prime  of  life,  Mr.  Fillmore,  his  hair  not  yet 
silvered,  standing  six  feet  high  and  of  fine  presence,  made 
a  striking  figure  among  great  men.  He  had  resolved  to  be 
not  a  nominal  but  a  real  moderator  of  the  Senate,  and  he 
said  so  at  the  time.  He  would  follow  the  rule  of  rigid  fair 
ness  and  perfect  courtesy. 

In  his  brief  opening  address,  of  about  five  hundred  words, 
to  the  Senate,  March  4th,  1849,  he  said  : 

"  Senators  :  Never  having  been  honored  with  a  seat  on 
this  floor,  and  never  having  acted  as  the  presiding  officer  of 
any  legislative  body,  you  will  not  doubt  my  sincerity,  when 
I  assure  you  that  I  assume  the  responsible  duties  of  this 
chair  with  a  conscious  want  of  experience  and  a  just  appre 
ciation  that  I  shall  often  need  your  friendly  suggestions, 
and  more  often  your  indulgent  forbearance." 

He  compared  "  the  peaceful  changes  of  chief  magistrate 
of  this  Republic  with  the  recent  sanguinary  revolutions  in 
Europe."  Instead  of  the  voice  of  the  people  being  heard 
only  "amid  the  din  of  arms  and  the  horrors  of  domestic 

conflicts the  resistless  will  of  the  nation  has  from 

time  to  time  been  peaceably  expressed  by  the  free  voice  of 

42 


ASSERTION  OF  NATIONALISM 

the  people,  and  all  have  bowed  in  obedient  submission  to 
their  decree.  The  Administration  which  but  yesterday 
wielded  the  destinies  of  this  great  nation,  to-day  quietly 
yields  up  its  power  and  without  a  murmur  retires  from  the 
Capital."  With  such  "  cheering  evidences  of  our  capacity 
for  self-government,"  said  he,  "let  us  hope  that  the  sub 
lime  spectacle  we  now  witness  may  be  repeated  as  often  as 
the  people  shall  desire  a  change  of  rulers,  and  that  this 
venerated  Constitution  and  this  glorious  Union  may  endure 
forever." 

Mr.  Fillmore  set  himself  to  understand  fully  his  duties, 
not  only  in  their  practical  aspect,  but  also  in  the  light  of 
their  historical  origin.  As  usual,  he  made  a  thorough 
study  of  the  subject.  The  result  was  his  remarkable  ad 
dress  to  the  Senate  of  April  3rd,  1850,  over  a  year  after  his 
induction  in  office,  on  the  preservation  of  order  in  that 
body. 

John  C.  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina,  the  American  Barne- 
veldt  and  incarnation  of  the  extreme  doctrines  of  State 
Right,  had,  when  Vice  President,  in  1826,  made  a  decision 
in  the  Senate,  that  clearly  revealed  his  own  theories  of 
government.  To  his  mind,  the  Constitution  was  a  tem 
porary  compact  between  States  particular,  once  thirteen  in 
number,  to  be  dissolved  at  the  will  of  the  individual  states 
— one,  few,  or  many  making  the  dissolution.  Hence  the 
Senate  was,  in  his  view,  only  the  American  States-General, 
the  gathering  of  the  envoys  of  the  States  particular,  or 
political  units,  represented  in  the  deliberative  body.  He 
therefore,  in  1826,  as  Vice- President,  officially  declared 
"  that  in  his  opinion  he  had  no  authority  to  call  a  Senator 
to  order  for  words  spoken  in  debate." 

In  other  words,  the  executive  power  of  the  nation  was  so 
subordinate  to  the  legislative,  that  the  Vice- President  must 
simply  act  as  a  sort  of  moderator,  as  the  second  servant  of 
the  American  States-General,  and  not  as  the  living  voice 

43 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

of  a  nation  that  was  greater  than  its  component  parts. 
Against  such  a  notion,  the  soul  of  Fillmore,  the  American, 
loyal  not  only  to  the  Constitution  and  the  Union  but  to  the 
nation,  revolted.  He -believed  in  the  indissoluble  union  of 
indestructible  states  and  that  the  people*of  all  the  states 
•were/a  nation,  whose  body  was  greater  than  its  members. 

In  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1787,  the  functions 
and  proper  form  c|f  address  to  be  given  to  the  Vice-Presi 
dent  had  been  much  discussed.  The  titles  of  the  English 
kings,  "Sire,"  "Dread  Sir,"  "Defender  of  the  Faith," 
"  Most  Exalted  Majesty  ",  etc.,  were  noted  and  pondered. 
The  ultimate  settlement  of  the  question  depended  upon  the 
status  of  the  President. 

Was  the  President  of  the  United  States  a  Stadholder, 
that  is,  a  lieutenant,  or  power-holder  for  the  nation,  or  was 
he  a  king,  who  has  power  in  himself  alone  ?  When  it  was 
suggested  that  the  President's  title  should  be  "  His  Excel 
lency",  Mr.  Benjamin  Franklin  said,  "In  that  case,  I 
suppose  the  Vice- President  ought  to  be  called  '  His  Most 
Superfluous  Highness'  ".  To  this  status,  the  view  of  Cal- 
houn  would  reduce  the  Vice- President  of  the  United  States. 

In  the  view  of  "practical"  politicians,  especially  since 
the  era  of  nominating  conventions,  Vice-Presidents  are 
"products  of  the  political  bargain-counter".  Neverthe 
less,  Millard  Fillmore  made  himself  more  than  this.  He 
was  certainly  an  educator  of  the  Senate. 

Notably  different,  in  numbers,  was  the  Senate  of  1849,  as 
compared  with  its  first  session  in  New  York  in  1789,  over 
which  John  Adams  presided.  The  thirteen  states  had  be 
come  thirty  and  the  number  of  members  had  increased  from 
twenty-six  to  sixty.  As  Mr.  Fillmore  said,  "Many  little 
irregularities  may  be  tolerated  in  a  small  body,  that  would 
cause  disorder  in  a  large  one.  .  .  .  .  A  practice  seems  to 
have  grown  up  of  interrupting  a  Senator  when  speaking, 
by  addressing  him  directly,  instead  of  addressing  the  Chair, 
as  required  by  the  rule." 

44 


ASSERTION  OF  NATIONALISM 

"  One  of  the  first  acts  of  this  body  in  1789,  was  to  ap 
point  a  committee  to  prepare  a  system  of  rules  for  conduct 
ing  business  in  the  Senate.  .  .  .  That  Committee  reported 
a  number  of  rules,  which  were  adopted,  and  among  the 
rest"  was  one  which  required  that  "every  question  of 
order  shall  be  decided  by  the  President,  without  debate." 

"  These  rules  remained  the  same  until  1828  ",  when  they 
were  amended  and  after  a  long  and  interesting  debate,  "the 
amendment  was  finally  agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  more  than 
two  to  one",  which,  in  the  language  of  Mr.  Calhoun  him 
self,  "  as  to  the  power  conferred  upon'  the  Chair."  did,  as 
Mr.  Fillmore  declared,  recognize  "the  power  to  call  to 
order  in  the  Vice-President."  In  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  the  twenty-second  rule  of  that  body  declares  that  : 

"If  any  member  ....  in  speaking  or  otherwise,  trans 
gresses  the  rules  of  the  House,  the  Speaker  shall  or  any 
member  'may  call  to  order  ",  etc. 

The  italics  and  all  the  sentences  in  quotation  marks,  ex 
cept  the  text  of  the  rules,  are  Mr.  Fillmore' s,  as  given  in 
his  address  to  the  Senate,  April  3rd,  1850.  He  further 
quoted  from  Jefferson's  Manual,  "  which,"  said  he,  "seems 
to  be  a  code  of  common  law  for  the  regulation  of  all  parli- 
mentary  bodies  in  this  country",  to  reinforce  his  position. 
He  concluded  by  saying,  "As  presiding  officer  of  the 
Senate,  I  feel  that  my  duty  consists  in  executing  its  will, 
as  declared  by  its  rules  and  by  its  practice." 

In  a  word,  Millard  Fillmore  reversed  the  rule  of  John  C. 
Calhoun.  His  address,  notable  in  the  history  of  the  nation's 
highest  legislative  body,  delivered  with  Mr.  Fillmore' s  usual 
and  characteristic  urbanity,  made  a  profound  impression. 
It  was  a  clear  recognition  that  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  so  far  from  being  merely  a  States- General,  or  the 
deliberative  body  of  a  League  of  Thirteen  States,  was  the 
servant  of  a  sovereign  nation,  and  greater  than  the  States 
themselves.  To  Mr.  Fillmore,  the  Union  and  the  Nation 

45 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

were  more  than  a  name.     Instead  of  a  figure  of  speech,  the 
term  "United  States"  stood  for  an  indestructible  reality. 

No  action  was  taken  by  the  Senate,  except  to  order  the 
Vice-President's  remarks  entered  on  the  Journal  and 
printed.  Their  immediate  effect,  however,  was  to  check 
certain  disorderly  tendencies  in  the  Senate  and  to  secure 
more  scrupulous  observances  of  the  rules  of  order  and 
courtesy. 

Outside  the  Senate  Chamber,  in  which  he  was  absolutely 
impartial,  the  vice-president  had  little  influence  and  no 
power.  By  Seward  and  Weed  he  was  treated  with  marked 
contempt  and  the  Taylor  administration  gave  him  the  cold 
shoulder.  No  favors  he  had  asked  had  been  granted.  The 
appointment  of  two  personal  friends  at  Buffalo  was  denied 
him  and  their  places  given  to  Seward' s  partisans,  or  anti- 
Fillmore  Whigs. 

The  Senate's  presiding  officer,  from  New  York,  "raised 
in  the  backwoods,"  contrasted  in  both  his  language  and 
demeanor  with  those  of  most  Congressmen  new  to  their 
position.  Ante-bellum  rhetoric  was  lurid  and  legislative 
manners  were  often  barbarous.  One  can  hardly  help 
comparing  the  deportment  of  this  epoch  with  that  of  the 
first  four  or  five  presidents,  as  most  of  these  attended  the 
little  Fredericksburg  School,  and  were  drilled  in  the  great 
Jesuit,  Leonard  Perm's  Rules  of  Behavior,  as  we  have 
shown  in  "Belgium,  the  Land  of  Art."  Congressmen 
went  to  their  work  armed  for  a  possible  altercation.  One 
episode,  between  Foote  of  Mississippi  and  Benton  of  Mis 
souri,  is  famous.  The  aftermath,  in  publication — Benton's 
big  book,  with  its  "  retort  of  silence  "  about  the  Mississip- 
pian,  and  Foote's  little  book,  unfavorably  criticizing  the  man 
from  Missouri,  are  less  known.  It  is  uncertain  whether 
Foote's  pistol  was  loaded. 

In  the  Senate  it  was  common  to  have  wine  on  the  desk 
of  Senators,  and  all  have  heard  of  the  famous  "Hole  in  the 

46 


ASSERTION  OF  NATIONALISM 

Wall,"  where  strong  liquors,  always  ready,  were  served. 
The  use  of  intoxicating  liquor  was  still  more  common  in 
the  House,  and  the  scenes  of  drunkenness  and  disorder,  on 
the  last  night  of  the  session  of  1849,  beggar  description. 
There  was  a  great  supply  of  whiskey  on  hand  and  several 
members  were  carried  out  drunk  and  unfit  for  business. 

In  the  old  Senate  Room  of  1849,  presided  over  by  Millard 
Fillmore,  was  gathered  a  body  of  gentlemen  clad  in  sombre 
broadcloth,  who  wore  tall  silk  hats,  used  quill  pens  and 
sanded  the  wet  ink  on  their  sheets  of  writing  paper.  These 
were  the  days  of  black  satin  socks,  of  side  whiskers,  and  of 
hair  cut  in  one  style  for  the  upper,  and  in  another,  with 
"soap  locks,"  for  the  lower  grade.  "Stand-up"  and 
sharp-cut  collars,  with  affluence  of  ribbons  for  eye-glasses, 
or  time  pieces  in  fobs,  with  watch-guards  and  seals,  were 
common. 

For  warmth  in  winter,  grate  fires  of  hickory  wood  gave 
out  a  caloric  glow  radiating  but  a  few  feet,  though  in  winter 
reinforcement  was  made  by  Franklin  stoves  burning  anthra 
cite.  On  cold  days,  Senators,  leaving  their  seats,  backed 
up  to  the  grate  and,  lifting  their  coat  tails,  stimulated  circu 
lation,  or,  more  directly,  with  hands  and  feet  stretched  out, 
warmed  their  extremities.  If  they  were  obliged  to  keep 
at  their  desks  in  freezing  weather,  they  wrapped  themselves 
from  head  to  foot  in  their  long  woolen  shawls,  then  so  fash 
ionable.  These  were  fastened  at  the  neck  with  safety  pins, 
four  or  five  inches  long.  Snuff-taking  was  so  common  that, 
besides  two  well  filled  boxes  kept  on  the  presiding  officer's 
desk,  several  of  the  twelve  pages  were  kept  busy  in  respond 
ing  to  senatorial  demands  for  this  nasal  stimulant.  Some 
very  famous  men  were  so  addicted  to  the  use  of  snuff  that 
they  could  not  speak  well,  without  frequent  dips  into,  their 
boxes.  For  more  fiery  piquancy,  the  Hole  in  the  Wall — a 
little  room  with  bar  and  restaurant — sufficed  often,  but  too 
well. 

47 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

Nevertheless, there  was,  on  the  whole,  rather  an  excess 
of  dignity  in  some  things.  Many  of  the  Senators  were 
grave,  even  to  austerity.  All  visitors  must  take  off  their 
hats  and  a  monitor  was  employed  to  warn  all  comers  to  un 
cover.  There  was  no  telegraph  office  in*  the  building,  and 
as  Senators  had  no  secretaries,  most  of  them  remained  after 
adjournment  to  pen  their  correspondence,  leaving  the  seal 
ing  and  mailing  to  be  done  by  the  boys  who  acted  as  pages. 

Almost  startling  in  memory  seems  the  contrast  of  the 
style  of  oratory  then  in  vogue,  which  was  certainly  as  effec 
tive  as  it  was  enjoyed.  Even  the  average  discussion  was 
then  wholly  different  from  the  business-like  procedure,  and, 
in  general,  the  commonplace  talk  of  those  mercantile  poli 
ticians  of  to-day  who  imagine  themselves  statesmen,  or  of 
Senators,  representing  trusts  and  corporations,  rather  than 
commonwealths.  The  old  flights  of  eloquence,  in  attack 
and  defense,  and  in  the  assertion  of  great  principles,  have 
made  for  us  a  storehouse  of  classic  oratory,  in  which  the 
names  of  the  nation-builders  shine  as  stars  forever. 


48 


CHAPTER  IX. 
Union  the  Supreme  Issue. 

Whatever  men  said  or  thought  of  the  intellectual  giants, 
Calhoun,  Clay,  and  Webster,  in  the  days  of  their  life  on 
earth,  we  see  very  clearly  now,  that  they  were  true  to  their 
convictions  and  record,  and  so  was  Millard  Fillmore. 

With  three  of  these  men,  slavery  or  its  abolition  was  a 
secondary  matter.  As  was  Lincoln's,  so,  equally  was 
theirs.  The  maintenance  of  the  union  of  the  states  was 
their  hope  and  to  this  end  they  toiled,  each  in  unbending 
devotion. 

To  judge  of  them  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  purity 
of  motive  seems  an  outrage  on  their  memory.  Clay  and 
Fillmore  lived  up  to  their  records  as  well  as  to  their  light. 
Webster  did  the  same.  To  appraise  rightly,  or  to  interpret 
fairly  his  famous  speech  of  March  yth,  1850,  one  must 
know  Webster's  unswerving  purpose  and  attitude,  as  re 
vealed  in  years  previous,  during  a  whole  generation.  When 
he  replied  to  Hayne,  as  he,  twenty  years  later,  replied  to 
Calhoun,  his  purpose  and  outlook  were  one  and  the  same. 
He  had  no  more  respect  for  sectionalism  north  than  section 
alism  south.  He  believed  slavery  would  soon  die  its  own 
death,  yet  it  was  neither  of  this  issue,  nor  of  the  presi 
dential  candidacy,  that  he  was  thinking  so  much,  as  of 
answering  the  political  disunion  theories  of  Calhoun. 

He  who  reads  and  ponders  this  speech,  of  May  7,  1850, 
instead  of  swallowing  tradition  in  a  lump  and  then  reviling 
a  great  patriot,  he  who  studies  the  circumstances  of  the 
day  and  hour,  rather  than  Whittier's  poem  "  Ichabod",  the 
diatribes  of  his  enemies,  or  the  contemporaneous  rhetoric 
concerning  the  alleged  "fall  of  an  archangel",  sees  at 
once  a  passionate  and  convincing  plea  for  the  Union.  It 
was  that  speech,  more  than  any  other  one  element  in  the 

4  49 


MILLARD  FILL  MO  RE 

conflict  of  sentiment  and  confusion  of  interests,  that  in 
1 86 1  held  the  border  states  true  to  the  flag  of  the  stripes 
and  stars,  thus  securing  the  ultimate  doom  of  secession. 
No  other  piece  of  literature  was  so  effective  in  moving  tens 
of  thousands  of  young  men  to  enlist  in  *the  armies  of  the 
Union. 

Miss  Frederika  Bremer,  of  Sweden,  then  visiting  Wash 
ington,  paints  in  vivid  words  the  scene  on  March  yth,  1850, 
when,  after  a  tedious  pro-slavery  speech,  "a  thrill,  as  if 
from  a  noiseless  electric  shock,  passed  through  the  as 
sembly  ;  a  number  of  fresh  persons  entered  the  principal 
doors,  and  at  once  Daniel  Webster  was  seen  to  stand.  .  .  A 
stillness  as  of  death  reigned  in  the  house  and  all  eyes  were 
fixed  on  Webster."  She  said  "nobody  is  as  wise  as 
Webster  looks,  not  even  Mr.  Webster  himself",  with  his 
arched  forehead  and  deep-set  eyes  which  seemed  "cata 
combs  of  ancient  wisdom".  She  felt  the  overpowering 
effect  of  his  speech,  .seeing  in  him  a  pacificator.  In  private 
conversation,  she  was  impressed  with  his  belief  in  "  the 
healing  vitality  of  the  people." 

Webster's  famous  speech  of  March  yth,  1850  "  oftener 
reviled  than  read  ",  is  best  appreciated  to-day,  when  the 
'temporary  issue  of  slavery  is  dead,  while  the  problem  of 
national  union,  because  of  Mexico,  Japan,  and  the  vital, 
but  as  yet  unsettled  question  of  State  Right  vs.  Central 
Government  is  quick  ond  perennial.  Though  not  previ 
ously  written  out  (but  stenographically  reported  by  Mr., 
later  Professor  Hiram  Corson,  of  Cornell  University  as  he 
told  me  in  detail)  it  was  delivered  in  words,  measured  in  a 
deep  soul,  and  each  one  weighed,  as  if  for  eternity.  It  was 
nothing  more  or  less  than  an  answer  to  Calhoun's  ultima 
tum  of  March  4th,  which  had  meant  disunion  and  secession. 
In  the  South  Carolinian's  manifesto,  there  had  been  no 
menace  or  bluster,  but  the  utterance  of  clear  and  profound 
intellectual  conviction.  Webster's  reply  to  Calhoun  fixed 

50 


UNION  THE  SUPREME  ISSUE 

the  determination  of  thousands  of  young  men  in  the  border 
states  of  1 86 1  in  loyalty  to  the  Union,  even  as  it  moved 
myriads  in  the  North  to  stand  by  the  old  flag.  As  a  soldier 
in  the  war  between  the  states,  in  1863  I  am  sure  of  this. 
Northern  sectionalism  misread  Webster's  masterpiece. 

This  matchless  oration  of  May  yth,  1850,  which  meant 
the  perpetuation  of  American  nationality  was,  by  Webster 
himself,  entitled  "  Speech  for  the  Union  and  Constitution." 
It  is  a  massive  stone,  built  'immovably  and  imperishably,  in 
the  impregnable  wall  of  "the  Union  forever."  Calhoun, 
who  heard  the  unanswerable  argument,  listened  for  the  last 
time.  He  was  never  able  to  come  again  to  the  Senate,  and 
he  died  twenty-three  days  later. 

The  Northern  sectionalists  who  heard  or  read  Webster's 
greatest  speech,  and  the  pertinant  comments  on  it,  were  not 
in  a  state  of  mind  to  appraise  judicially  its  meaning,  motive* 
or  value,  and  the  effect  was  the  opposite  of  what  Webster 
intended  and  expected.  A  deluge  of  abuse,  rhyme  without 
reason  and  in  poetry,  prose  and  pathos,  fell  upon  the  orator  / 
and  statesman  who  had  educated  a  generation  in  loyalty  to  «. 
the  nation.  The  man  who,  with  supremacy  of  intellect  and 
unplummeted  depth  of  affection  for  the  Union,  had  corn- 
batted  the  State  Right  doctrines  of  Barneveldt  and  Calhoun 
found  himself  branded  ' '  Ichabod. ' '  Whittier  misread  Web 
ster,  and  was  as  thoroughly  mistaken,  in  writing  stump 
speech  poems,  as  when  picturing  in  his  fascinating  numbers 
the  historical  Stonewall  Jackson  and  the  probably  mythical 
incident  of  Barbara  Frietchie.  Thousands  of  others,  passion- 
blind,  were,  like  the  poet,  lacking  in  range  of  vision.  The 
Friend  poet  made  apology  for  his  first  mistake,  but  not  for 
his  injustice  to  Webster. 

Miss  Bremer  pictures  Henry  Clay  as  ' '  the  dying  gladia 
tor,"  who  had  "  a  glance  of  genius  which  requires  but  little 
knowledge  to  enable  it  to  perceive  and  comprehend  much." 
As  Clay  gave  his  last  address  in  the  Senate,  Charles  Sumner 

51 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

entered  to  begin  his  national  career,  Four  days  later,  on 
March  nth,  Seward  uttered  his  famous  phrase,  "  the  higher 
law." 

During  nine  months  of   angry  controversy  over  slavery, 
'  Millard   Fillmore  held  the   scales  with  such  judicial  nicety 
and  unfailing  courtesy,  that  no  one  could  tell  which  policy 
'he  approved.     Amid    the  high   tides  and   surging  seas  of 
^American  oratory,  he  remained  "  tranquil  amid  the  waves." 
Indeed,  less  like  the  eagle,  carved   in  effigy  and  surmount 
ing  the  canopy  over  his  head,  but  more  like  Milton's  bird 
of  calm,  "  brooding  on  the  charmed  wave,"  he  sat  in  im 
perturbable  dignity,  as  a  model  for  all  time. 

When  Millard  Fillmore  came  to  Washington,  both  as 
Congressman  in  1832  and  as  Vice-President  in  1849,  ^e 
slave  market  was  one  of  the  "  institutions  "  of  the  city. 
On  advertised  days,  at  the  public  auctions,  coffles  of  blacks 
were  led  out  to  stand  on  high  benches.  Then  the  physical 
examination  of  both  male  and  female  humanity  proceeded, 
as  in  a  cattle  market.  Intending  purchasers  were  allowed  to 
handle  the  living  flesh  of  girls  and  women,  as  they  would 
those  of  dumb  brutes.  The  strength  in  teeth,  limbs,  and 
body  of  athletic  slaves  was  displayed  as  though  they  were 
bulls  or  draught-horses  under  the  hammer. 

As  a  little  boy,  I  used  to  listen  open-eyed  and  mouthed 
to  the  stories  of  famous  slave  auctions  in  Virginia,  visited 
by  cousins  who  had  seen  many  a  black  Venus  and  ebony 
Hercules,  as  well  as  the  common  human  stock,  sold  to  the 
highest  bidder.  I  heard  sermons  on  the  divinity  of 
slavery — a  favorite  theme  in  many  pulpits,  both  South  and 
North.  The  philosophy  of  1850  was  much  like  that  which 
produced  the  world- war  of  1914.  "  To  protect  the  weak, 
we  must  enslave  them,"  said  De  Bow  in  his  review. 
"Slavery  is  necessary  as  an  educational  institution  and  is 
worth  ten  times  all  the  common  schools  of  the  North,"  said 
the  same  editor.  In  Washington  the  slave  pen  was  visible 
from  the  capital. 

52 


UNION  THE  SUPREME  ISSUE 

On  the  other  hand,  the  pulpit  and  the  theatres  were  for 
the  most  part,  the  allies  of  freedom.  "  Uncle  Tom,"  read 
in  300,000  copies  of  the  book  and  played  upon  the  stage, 
for  millions.  The  realism  of  book  and  drama  made  millions 
weep  for  the  man  in  the  indigo  swamps,  or  the  laborer  in 
the  cotton  fields  who  winced  under  the  overseer's  whip. 

In  the  midst  of  the  heat  of  July,  when  the  end  of  the 
long  debate  was  still  twelve  weeks  distant,  Mr.  Fillmore 
was  summoned  by  Providence  to  lay  down  his  gavel  and 
become  the  leader  of  the  nation.  His  civil  labors  hardly 
more  than  begun,  the  hero  of  Buena  Vista  was  called  by 
the  Great  Commander  from  this  world.  He  was  one  of  the 
five  presidents  who  before  1901  died  in  office,  three  of  them 
being  murdered.  Seven  vice-presidents,  who  served  be 
fore  1901,  died  while  in  office. 

Until  within  ten  hours  of  Taylor's  decease,  the  vice- 
president  had  hardly  supposed  that  the  sickness  of  his 
superior  in  office  was  serious  or  could  be  fatal.  The  reality 
of  the  situation  dawned  upon  him  "  like  a  peal  of  thunder 
from  a  clear  sky."  The  one  sleepless  night  of  his  life  fol 
lowed,  when  he  faced  the  fact  that  he  must  lead  the  nation 
as  its  chief  executive. 

Certain  features  in  the  United  States  Government  are  not 
under  the  classification  of  law,  but  are  the  natural  out 
growths  of  American  history.  Among  these  are  the  in 
auguration  ceremonies,  except  the  oath,  and  the  creation  of 
a  Cabinet.  They  form  part  of  our  unwritten  Constitution. 

Since  Mr.  Fillmore,  who  except  Polk,  was  the  youngest 
man  so  honored  before  the  year  1850,  was  suddenly  called 
to  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  nation,  the  simple  inaugura 
tion  of  the  thirteenth  president  satisfied  fully  the  bare  text 
of  the  Constitution.  It  lacked  adornment,  though  in  form 
it  was  primitive  and  impressive.  On  the  morning  following 
the  decease  of  President  Taylor,  at  twelve  o'clock  noon  in 
the  Senate  Chamber,  before  the  assembled  houses  of  Con- 

53 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

gress,  the  members  standing  during  the  ceremony,  the  oath 
of  office  was  administered  by  the  venerable  Judge  Cranch 
of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

There  were  no  ceremonies,  but  as  soon  as  the  Cabinet 
and  Senate  had  retired,  the  Speaker  announced  a  message 
from  the  new  President  as  follows  : 

Washington,  July  loth,  1850. 

"  Fellow-citizens  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  : — A  great  man  has  fallen  among  us,  and  a 
whole  country  is  called  to  an  occasion  of  unexpected  deep 
and  general  mourning. 

I  recommend  to  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  to  adopt 
such  measures  as  in  their  discretion  may  seem  proper,  to 
perform  with  due  solemnity  the  funeral  obsequies  of 
Zachary  Taylor,  late  President  of  the  United  States  ;  and 
thereby  to  signify  the  great  and  affectionate  regard  of  the 
American  people  for  the  memory  of  one  whose  life  has  been 
devoted  to  the  public  service  ;  whose  career  in  arms  has 
not  been  surpassed  in  usefulness  or  brilliancy ;  who  has 
been  so  recently  raised  by  the  unsolicited  voice  of  the  people 
to  the  highest  civil  authority  in  the  government,  which  he 
administered  with  so  much  honor  and  advantage  to  his 
country  ;  and  by  whose  sudden  death  so  many  hopes  of 
future  usefulness  have  been  blighted  forever. 

To  you — Senators  and  Representatives  of  a  nation  in 
tears,  I  can  say  nothing  which  can  alleviate  the  sorrow  with 
which  you  are  oppressed. 

I  appeal  to  you  to  aid  me  under  the  trying  circumstances 
which  surround  me,  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties,  from 
which,  however  much  I  may  be  oppressed  by  them,  I  dare 
not  shrink  ;  and  I  rely  upon  Him  who  holds  in  his  hands 
the  destinies  of  nations  to  endow  me  with  the  requisite 
strength  for  the  task,  and  to  avert  from  our  country  the 
evils  apprehended  from  the  heavy  calamity  which  has 
befallen  us. 

54 


UNION  THE  SUPREME  ISSUE 

I  shall  most  readily  concur  in  whatever  measures  the 
wisdom  of  the  two  Houses  may  suggest,  as  befitting  this 
deeply[melancholly  occasion. 

MlIXARD    FlU,MORE." 

Congress  adjourned  for  three  days,  until  July  i3th,  that 
is,  until  General  Taylor  had  been  buried. 


55 


CHAPTER  X. 
The  President  and  his  Cabinet. 

% 

The  new  President,  thus  inaugurated  with  a  simplicity 
almost  Spartan,  immediately  faced  a  shower  of  resignations. 
He  had  requested  that  the  advisers  of  his  predecessor  would 
remain  in  office  at  least  one  month,  and  he  hoped  they 
would  do  so,  but  one  and  all  declined.  The  penmanship 
of  nearly  all  these  July  documents,  now  among  "Letters 
Received,"  show  the  nervous  tension  of  disappointment, 
with  which  the  members  of  the  Taylor  Cabinet  made  haste 
to  let  Mr.  Fillmore  alone,  and  to  take  express  trains  from 
Washington  homewards.  Typewriting  machines  which 
blot  out  psychology  and  have  closed  the  era  of  "  author's 
manuscripts"  were  not  then  invented,  and,  without  the 
interference  of  private  secretaries,  these  writers  of  auto 
graphs  reveal  agitating  emotions  behind  hands  and  pens. 
Mr.  Fillmore  was  obliged,  by  peremptory  necessity,  to  form 
his  executive  council  without  meditation. 

There  was  one  man,  however,  who  remained  on  the 
ground,  and  evidently  expected  to  influence  the  situation, 
if  not  to  dominate  the  policy  of  the  administration.  Almost 
as  soon  as  the  hour  hand  of  the  clock  permitted  him  to  be 
called  President,  Mr.  Fillmore  received  from  "  D.  W.",  a 
naked  scrap  of  paper,  bare  of  signature,  in  Daniel  Webster's 
handwriting,  entitled  "For  the  President's  information 
merely.  On  this  slip  is  planned  and  named  the  Fillmore 
cabinet,  as  Daniel  Webster  thought  it  ought  to  be.  The 
names  of  office  and  nominee  are  written  out  in  full  in  every 
case  except  that  of  Secretary  of  State,  under  which  are 
only  three  criss-crosses.  The  document  reads  as  follows  : 

"For  the  President's  consideration  merely. 

56 


THE  PRESIDENT  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Sec.  of  State  *       *       * 

Do.  Treasury  Mr.  Vinton. 

Do.  Interior  Mr.  Graham 

Do.  War  Mr.  Bates* 

Do.  Navy  Mr.  Conrad 

P.  M.  Gen'l  Mr.  Pennington. 

Att'y  Gen'l  Mr.  Crittenden. 

D.  W." 

From  this  simple  missive,  penned  by  the  great  Daniel 
Webster,  there  is  in  the  collection  of  ' '  Letters  Received  ' ' 
a  downward  gradation  of  recommendations  and  denuncia 
tions,  as  to  the  coarsest  villifications  and  unmeasured 
pathos  from  nobodies  of  all  sorts  and  conditions.  General 
Scott  also  penned  a  missive,  offering  advice  as  to  the  making 
of  the  new  cabinet.  It  reveals  a  weak  and  vain  man.  A 
real  war  hero,  his  courage  in  battle  was  as  that  of  the  tra 
ditional  lion,  but  his  pen  was  ever  weaker  than  his  sword. 

Along  with  tons  of  advice  dumped  upon  the  new  presi 
dent,  were  chapters  of  blackest  condemnation  of  Webster. 
Yet  Mr.  Fillmore  knew  that  he  was  the  one  man,  whom  it 
would  have  been  flying  in  the  face  of  logic  and  consistency, 
if  not  destiny,  to  fail  in  placing  at  the  front  of  the  Cabinet, 
as  Secretary  of  State.  Profoundly  sincere  in  making  the 
offer,  the  new  president  was  vastly  gratified  when  Daniel 
Webster  accepted  the  office. 

General  Scott's  epistle  was  amusing.  He  added  on  his 
''slate,"  a  commentary  containing  warnings,  flattery,  and 
cynical  or  languid  judgments,  while  mentioning  the  names 
of  Botts,  Summers,  Bridges,  Raynen,  Stanley,  Dawson, 
Berrien,  Bell,  Jones,  Crittenden,  and  Conrad.  Except  to 


*This  will  come  near  being  a  Northwestern  appointment.  Mr. 
Bates  is  well  known  not  only  to  the  people  of  Missouri,  but  also  to 
those  of  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  Iowa,  and  I  believe  highly  respected 
by  the  Whigs  in  those  states.  This,  in  some  points,  is  better  than 
one  farther  South. 

57 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

the  delver  in  archives,  most  of  these  men's  names  are  now 
hardly  more  than  echoes.  Of  one  or  another  of  these  Scott 
wrote.  "Querellous  (sic)  from  bad  health  and  incapable 
of  methodical,  continuous  labor";  "of  decided  moral 
courage,  but  with  more  enemies  than  friends,  and  associa 
tions  that  impair  dignity  ;"  "a  charming  character,  good 
abilities,  but  lazy, — requiring  a  coal  of  fire  applied  to  his 
back  to  make  him  better  himself  "  ;  "a  little  blunt  and 
rough  in  manners,  which  soldiers  dislike,  but  forgive  and 
tolerate  in  behalf  of  high  worth  "  ;  ' '  good  chairman  of 
military  committee  of  the  House  "  ;  "  a  nullifier,  I  fear  he 
will  push  State  Rights  too  far,"  etc.,  etc.  Of  J.  J.  Crit- 
tenden  he  wrote,  "  A  high  character,  formerly  a  great  friend 
of  mine',  not  now  an  enemy  ;  no  habit  of  labor  and  perhaps 
not  law  enough  to  be  Attorney  General.  Moral  courage 
great.  Right  views  and  principles.  Highly  popular.  Not 
so  acceptable  as  Mr.  Clay. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

W.  S." 
Washington,  July  16,  1850. 

The  Cabinet  had  increased  from  four  persons,  in  the  days 
of  Washington,  to  seven  in  the  time  of  Mr.  Fillmore.  The 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  entered  the  council  in  John  Adams's 
and  the  Postmaster  General  during  Jackson's  administra 
tion.  Owing  to  the  great  expansion  of  governmental  in 
terests  in  the  new  territory  acquired  from  Mexico,  an  Act 
was  passed,  March  3rd,  1849,  the  day  before  the  inaugura 
tion  of  General  Taylor,  creating  the  office  of  Secretary  of 
the  Interior.  This  number  of  seven  executive  advisers 
continued  until  long  after  the  Civil  War.  The  number  in 
19x5  is  ten  and  is  likely  to  be  increased. 

The  evidence  shows  that  the  new  president  sought  advice 
from  Henry  Clay,  and  was  notably  guided  by  him  in  the 
selection  of  advisers.  Fillmore's  supreme  object,  like  Lin 
coln's,  was  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

58 


THE  PRESIDENT  AND  HIS  CABINET 

Within  ten  days,  after  taking  the  oath  of  office,  President 
Fillmore  transmitted,  on  July  20,  for  confirmation  by  the 
Senate,  a  message  containing  his  nominations  to  the  Cabinet. 

Daniel  Webster,  of  Massachusetts Secretary  of  Statei 

Thomas  Corwin,  of  Ohio Secretary  of  the  Treasury 

James  A.  Pearce,  of  Maryland -Secretary  of  the  Interior 
Wm.  A.  Graham,  of  North  Carolina-Sec' y  of  the  Navy 

Edward  Bates,  of  Missouri Secretary  of  War 

Nathan  K.  Hall,  of  New  York Postmaster  General 

John  J.  Crittenden  of  Kentucky Attorney  General 

Although  the  Senate  confirmed  these  nominations,  Mr. 
Pearce  and  Mr.  Bates  were  unable  to  accept.  Subsequently 
T.  Wort  McKeunan,  then  Alexander  H.  H.  Stuart  of 
Virginia  took  the  portfolio  of  the  newly  created  Depart 
ment  of  the  Interior,  and  C.  M.  Conrad  of  Louisiana  be 
came  Secretary  of  War.  The  Postmaster-General  was 
Mr.  Fillmore' s  law  partner  in  Buffalo.  '*  Kmineut  ability, 
large  experience  in  public  affairs  and  great  weight  of 
character  "  were  embodied  in  this  selection. 

One  of  the  ablest,  as  he  was  the  handsomest  man  in  the 
President's  Cabinet,  was  William  Alexander  Graham,  of 
North  Carolina,  who  had  served  repeatedly  in  his  own  State 
legislature  and  in  the  United  States  Senate,  while  Mr.  Fill- 
more  was  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  He  had  been 
twice  elected  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  but  declined  a 
third  term.  When  summoned  by  Mr.  Fillmore  to  the  Navy 
Department,  he  displayed  uncommon  grasp,  acumen,  and 
executive  vigor,  giving  to  the  Navy  a  fame  in  science,  ex 
ploration  and  diplomacy,  which  has  never  been  eclipsed. 
Of  commanding  figure,  elegant  manners  and  most  agreeable 
address,  his  presence  at  the  levees  and  receptions  was 
eagerly  courted.  He  lived  to  be  an  unsuccessful  candidate 
for  the  vice-presidency,  a  senator  of  the  Confederacy,  and, 
for  general  usefulness,  one  of  the  first  citizens  of  his  native 
state,  surviving  his  chief,  Fillmore,  a  few  months  only  and 

59 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

making  his  farewell  to  earthly  life  at  Saratoga  Springs  in 
mid- August,  1875. 

.  Taylor's  death  carried  confusion  into  the  ranks  of  Fill- 
more's  enemies.  It  was  the  battle  summer  of  debate  and 
the  political  parties  seemed  to  prepare*  themselves  for 
renewed  combat  over  Taylor's  grave.  The  impulses, 
higher  than  selfish  and  worldly  interests,  which  the  great 
chief  had  called  forth,  seemed  buried  with  him.  In  the 
Senate,  in  place  of  "  the  urbane  Fillmore  "  there  was  a  new 
Speaker,  Mr.  King,  of  Alabama,  "with  more  acerbity  of 
manner  and  considerably  less  grace." 

A  Whig  in  politics,  the  new  President  confronted  a 
Democratic  Congress.  In  the  judicial  branch  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  only  one  Whig  sat  on  the  Supreme  Court  Bench. 
The  end  of  "the  grand  old  party"  was  approaching, 
though  Mr.  Fillmore  knew  it  not  and  few  could  foresee  its 
utter  dissolution. 

Fierce  light  beat  upon  the  new  president.  Newspaper 
articles  freighted  with  advice,  in  all  sorts  and  degrees  of 
sanity,  were  showered  upon  the  man  who  had  suddenly 
become  the  greatest  in  the  United  States.  The  letters  still 
on  file  show  what  resources  of  absurdity  exist  in  human 
nature  of  the  American  variety,  and  frequently  recall  Car- 
lyle's  census  and  verdict.  As  a  helmsman  exposed  to  all 
winds,  temperatures  and  states  of  moisture  soon  gets 
weather  proof,  so  the  new  president  kept  his  equanimity. 
Being  no  prophet  or  seer,  he  steered  according  to  the  com 
pass  of  the  Constitution.  To  Millard  Fillmore  this  was  as 
the  finger  of  God  pointing  the  way. 

Taylor  and  Fillmore  were  the  last  candidates  of  the  Whig 
party  which  was  to  "  lose  its  life  in  attempting  to  swallow 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law."  In  other  words,  an  economic 
party  was  wrecked  on  an  ethical  question.  Yet  the  part  of 
the  "Silver  Grey"  wing  of  the  party,  of  which  Mr.  Fill- 
more  was  the  standard-bearer,  in  postponing  civil  war, 

60 


THE  PRESIDENT  AND  HIS  CABINET 

until  the  nation  was  strong  enough  to  grapple  with  its 
mightiest  problem,  was  a  noble  one.  Most  of  the  prelimin 
ary  work  of  transforming  the  United  States  from  a  Federal 
into  a  National  Republic  had  been  done  by  the  Whigs  be 
fore  the  war  between  the  states  began.  The  Whig  party 
was  at  least  national. 


6 1 


CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Supremacy  of  the  National  Government. 

% 

The  Mexican  War  being  over,  ships,  paddle  wheels,  and 
discharged  soldiers  were  released  to  new  ventures.  Thous 
ands  of  discontented  men  stood  ready  and  eager  for  new 
hazards  of  fortune.  Polk  having  failed  to  purchase  Cuba, 
the  logical  inheritance  from  his  administration  was  the 
formation  of  a  Cuban  junta  in  Washington.  Its  open  pur 
pose  was  to  furnish  new  areas  of  sugar  land,  to  be  worked 
by  slave  labor.  A  war  of  aggression  opened  boundless 
vistas  of  expansion.  Fortunes  were  made  quickly.  From 
the  new  continent,  won  by  arms  and  diplomacy,  a  thousand 
hands  seemed  to  rise  beckoning  to  daring  deeds.  The 
oceans  and  Asian  lands  lured  to  new  explorations.  New 
paths  of  commerce  opened  on  the  sea.  It  was  Millard  Fill- 
more' s  task  to  turn  these  resistless  energies  into  honorable 
channels.  Multiplying  problems  promised  to  tax  the  best 
talents  of  the  statemen  in  the  Executive  Council. 

Toadstools  and  mushrooms,  the  quick  growth  of  decay, 
spring  up  more  rapidly  than  roses  or  oaks.  The  immediate 
outgrowths  of  the  Mexican  war  were  lawless  attempts  to 
extend  the  area  of  slave  labor  in  any  and  every  possible 
direction.  Two-thirds  of  Taylor's  army  were  Southerners 
— a  tremendous  advantage  to  the  unborn  Confederacy,  when 
strife  between  the  States  should  break  out,  the  one  war 
being  the  sequel  of  the  other.  These  men  had  made  sacri 
fices  for  slavery,  but  Wilmot's  proviso  threatened  at  first  to 
shatter  their  hopes. 

The  war  and  new  territory  ceded  from  Mexico  cost  the 
nation  $150,000,000,  three-fourths  of  which  was  to  come 
from  the  North.  Then,  further,  our  country  was  to  have  a 
long  spell  of  "  growing  pains  ". 

62 


SUPREMACY  OF  THE  NATIONAL  GOVERNMENT 

There  was  a  pathetic  and  comical  side  also,  showing  that 
most  of  "The  bold  soldier  boys"  had  suffered  in  the  cam 
paigns  of  Venus  before  serving  with  Mars.  There  was,  it 
seems,  a  two-fold  propulsion  to  adventure.  The  London 
Punch,  as  usual,  had  its  fun  with  our  folks. 

In  a  poem  on  The  Yankee  Volunteers,  of  whom  the  army 
surgeons  declared  that  "  nine- tenths  of  the  men  had  en 
listed  on  account  of  some  female  difficulty",  Punch  thus 
expressed  his  mind  in  a  general  review  of  history  : 

' '  Thus  always  has  it  ruled, 
And  when  a  woman  smiles, 
The  strong  man  was  a  child, 
The  sage  a  noodle  ; 
Alcides  was  befooled 
And  silly  Samson  shorn 
Long,  long  e'er  you  were  born, 
Poor  Yankee  Doodle  !  '* 

Survivors  of  the  Mexican  War  are  now  few  and  far  be 
tween,  yet  occasionally  we  have  pathetic  reminders.  The 
First  New  York  Regiment  returned  to  New  York,  July  27, 
1848,  and  deposited  its  battle  flags  in  the  Governor's  Room 
of  the  City  Hall.  On  Nov.  17,  1907,  five  greyhaired  veter 
ans,  with  a  guard  of  honor,  transferred  these  same  flags 
from  the  City  Hall  to  the  United  States  military  authorities 
on  Governor's  Island,  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Centurion.  All 
this  is  cool  and  calm.  On  the  contrary,  the  heat  of  con 
troversy  in  Mr.  Fillmore's  day  reminds  one  of  the  contents 
and  outpouring  stream  of  a  Bessemer  converter. 

Waiving  chronological  order,  we  glance  first  at  Oregon, 
then  at  New  Mexico  (not  made  a  state  until  1913)  and 
finally  at  California,  which  leaped  first  into  statehood.  It 
was  over  the  protracted  debate  and  long  world-battles 
during  the  first  part  of  the  hot  summer  in  1850,  until  July 
loth,  amid  siroccos  of  eloquence  and  volcanos  of  argument, 
that  Mr.  Fillmore  had  presided.  In  the  Presidential  chair, 
he  was  no  stranger  to  the  problems  presented,  especially 
since  the  debate  continued  three  months  longer. 

63 


MIL  LARD  FILL  MORE 

Folk's  administration  made  its  escape  from  its  "  54°  40' 
or  fight, ' '  "  by  taking  the  advice  of  the  Senate  in  advance, ' ' 
and  the  boundary  line  between  British  and  Yankee  America 
was  fixed  at  49°.  Thus,  after  twenty  years  of  discussion 
over  a  frontier  line,  the  Oregon  country  was  organized  as  a 
territory,  August  14,  1848. 

The  exploration  of  this  part  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  which 
contains  one  of  the  grandest  western  water  gateways  into 
the  continent,  is  associated  with  an  uuusually  brilliant  list 
of  names, — Juan  de  Fuca,  the  Greek  pilot  of  the  viceroy  of 
Mexico ;  Bruno  Heceta,  the  Spanish  explorer  ;  Captain 
Cook,  the  British  hero  ;  Robert  Gray,  the  Yankee  skipper, 
who  gave  the  name  of  Columbia  to  the  great  river,  thus 
furnishing  the  Government  of  the  United  States  with  its 
positive  claim  to  "the  Oregon  country"  George  Van 
couver,  the  Englishman  of  Dutch  descent,  who  explored 
the  waters  of  Puget  Sound  ;  Lewis  and  Clark,  the  overland 
explorers  ;  Parker  and  Whitman,  who,  sent  out  by  Christian 
people  from  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  first  carried  the  good  news  of 
.  God  to  men  and  took  over  the  Rocky  Mountains  the  first 
"  white  woman  and  the  first  wheeled  vehicle  ;  Fremont,  the 
pathfinder  who  followed  in  Whitman's  trail  with  soldiers, 
and,  finally,  with  the  marine  examinations  by  the  Antarctic 
explorer,  Charles  Wilkes,  and  Commodore  John  Drake 
Sloat.  During  Fillmore's  time,  "  the  Whitman  legend," 
unknown  and  unheard  of,  had  not  sprouted. 

The  area  of  the  State  of  Washington  was  erected  into  a 
territory  during  Fillmore's  administration,  on  the  2nd  of 
March,  1853,  two  days  before  the  New  Yorker  stepped  out, 
and  the  man  from  New  Hampshire  stepped  into  the  White 
House.  Its  star  of  statehood  was  first  seen  on  the  flag, 
November  n,  1889. 

Between  New  Mexico  and  the  Lone  Star  State,  Fillmore 
faced  a  dangerous  question,  which  might  at  any  moment 
produce  bloody  strife.  General  Kearny  had  entered  Santa 

64 


SUPREMACY  OF  THE  NATIONAL  GOVERNMENT 

Fe  in  August,  1846,  and  New  Mexico  was  still  under  mili 
tary  government.  The  treaty  with  Mexico  had  left  the 
question  of  boundaries  unsettled.  The  future  states  and 
territories  of  Utah  and  Nevada,  and  a  large  part  of  Arizona 
and  Colorado,  were  included  in  this  cession  of  the  territory 
of  New  Mexico,  which  embraced  the  whole  area  of  land 
below  the  37th  parallel  and  between  California  and  Texas, 
and  also  the  land  northward  to  the  Arkansas  river. 

Texas  however,  claimed  the  portion  of  land  lying  east  of 
the  Rio  Grande  and  at  once  took  active  measures  to  make 
her  claim  good,  by  occupying  that  portion  of  the  country 
which  was  the  most  populous,  and  out  of  which  it  was 
hoped  to  carve  four  large  counties.  In  a  word,  as  some  in 
terpreted  this  act,  the  slave  power  would,  without  losing  an 
hour,  or  even  a  moment,  extend  its  area. 

Yet  this  was  not  a  question  between  New  Mexico  and 
Texas  but  between  the  two  nations,  Mexico  and  the  United 
States.  On  Nov.  19,  1849,  by  order  of  ^President  Taylor, 
the  military  authorities  directed  the  people  living  in  their 
department  in  that  part  of  New  Mexico  east  of  the  Rio 
Grande  to  form  a  state  constitution.  This  was  a  dangerous 
precedent  and  a  vicious  principle — that  the  army  should 
interfere  with  or  take  upon  itself  the  making  of  civil  gov 
ernment.  It  was  old  Rough-and-Ready's  short  and  simple^ 
way. 

At  once  Governor  P.  H.  Bell  of  Texas  sent  a  letter  to 
the  President  asking  if  this  had  been  done  by  orders  from 
Washington.  Arriving  after  Taylor's  decease,  this  missive  s 
was  answered,  as  we  shall  see,  by  Mr.  Fillmore  through  the 
Secretary  of  State,  in  a  masterly  document,  which  was  none 
the  less  impressive  because  it  was  throughout  conciliatory 
in  tone. 

Had   New  Mexico   been   a   state,  the  burning  question 
could  have  been  settled  by  judicial  decision.     Meanwhile,  »•„, 
the  United  States  military  forces  at  Santa  Fe  refused  to  * 

5  65 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

acknowledge  the  sovereignty  or  obey  the  orders  of  the  Texas 
judiciary.  President  Taylor,  when  appealed  to,  declared 
that  the  settlement  of  the  boundary  question  was  the  busi 
ness  of  Congress  and  not  of  the  President.  One  gentleman, 
styling  himself  Commissioner  of  the  State  of  Texas,  at 
tempted  to  organize  counties  in  New  "Mexico  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  Texas.  He  was  given  military  notice  to 
desist  at  once.  Affairs  looked  ominous.  Was  there  to  be 
a  collision  between  Texas  and  the  United  States  ?  When 
trouble  was  most  imminent,  President  Taylor  died.  His 
successor's  first  duty  was  to  assert  the  national  supremacy 
over  a  fraction,  according  to  the  simple  axiom  in  mathe 
matics,  which  declares  the  whole  to  be  greater  than  its 
parts.  Certain  phases  of  the  situation  remind  us  of  1914, 
and  diplomacy  with  Japan. 

President  Fillmore's  special  message  to  Congress,  on 
August  1 6th,  tells  the  story.  The  Texas  legislature  in 
special  session  had  decided  to  maintain  the  claim  of  Texas, 
with  her  two  hundred  thousand  people,  against  the  United 
States,  by  force  !  To  understand  this  case  of  Lilliput 
against  Brobdignag,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  United 
States  had  been  the  wooing  party  to  get  Texas  into  the 
Union,  and  great  things  had  been  promised  from  Washing 
ton  in  the  way  of  internal  improvements,  besides  coast  and 
frontier  defense.  After  the  marriage,  the  wooer  failed  to 
fulfil  his  pledges.  The  Texans  felt  that  they  had  been 
wronged,  and  were  irritated  and  defiant. 

Millard  Fillmore  was  an  American  and  a  Unionist.  Con 
fronted  by  the  grave  danger  of  nullification,  he  declared 
that,  in  the  face  of  the  treaty  with  Mexico,  any  movement 
of  the  Texas  militia  into  New  Mexico  would  be  trespass 
and  be  treated  as  such.  Treaties  are  part  of  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land,  which  every  state  must  obey.  The  Presi 
dent  said  to  the  Governor  of  Texas  "  This  supreme  law  of 

the  land is  to  be  maintained Neither  the 

66 


SUPREMACY  OF  THE  NATIONAL  GOVERNMENT 

Constitution  nor  the  laws,  nor  my  oath  of  office  leave  me 
any  alternative  or  any  choice  in  my  mode  of  action." 

The  real  root  of  the  matter  was  this.  The  Texas  of  1850 
held  to  slavery  in  its  most  violent  and  offensive  form,  giving 
no  place  on  its  soil  either  to  free  negroes  or  to  manumitted 
slaves.  The  desire  to  enlarge  the  area  of  human  bondage 
was  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  her  fire-eating  politicians. 
Mr.  Fillmore's  course,  in  asserting  the  supremacy  of  the 
law  of  the  land,  over  the  kind  of  a  Texas  that  existed  in 
1850,  drew  upon  him  from  some  quarters  in  the  South,  as 
much  bitter  denunciation  as  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  com 
pelled  him  to  receive  in  the  North.  Happy  for  us  of  to-day, 
he  could  stand  both. 

Throwing  the  main  burden  upon  Congress,  Mr.  Fillmore 
thus  defined  the  power  of  the  nation's  chief  magistrate. 
"  The  duty  of  the  executive  extends  only  to  the  execution 
of  laws  and  the  maintenance  of  treaties  already  in  force  and 
the  protection  of  all  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  all 
the  rights  which  those  treaties  and  laws  guarantee." 

As  speedy  action  was  necessary  and  delay,  through  refer 
ence  to  courts,  arbitration,  or  a  commission  was,  in  the 
state  of  society  on  the  border,  highly  dangerous,  Mr.  Fill- 
more,  after  a  conciliatory  letter  to  Governor  Bell,  recom 
mended  to  Congress,  as  the  solution  of  the  problem,  the 
unconditional  obedience  of  Texas  to  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land,  and,  also,  that  a  fair  and  liberal  indemnity  should  be 
paid  her  by  the  United  States. 

Meanwhile,  to  guard  against  danger  of  a  collision,  the 
President  ordered  the  regular  army  in  New  Mexico  to  be 
strongly  reinforced.  There  was  to  be  no  trifling  with  the 
central  Government. 

This  offer,  to  treat  Texas  with  consideration  and  even 
generosity,  was  so  different  from  the  double  policy  of  greed 
and  neglect  shown  by  the  two  former  administrations,  that 
in  the  land  of  the  bowie  knife  a  total  change  of  temperature 

67 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

took  place.  The  traveler,  ready  to  set  out  on  the  war  path, 
who  had  girded  himself  against  storm  could  not  resist  sun 
shine.  The  armor  and  cloak  of  defiance  were  thrown  off 
and  Mr.  Fillmore's  recommendation  was  cheered  with  de 
light.  The  President  won  a  victory,  none  the  less  glorious 
because  bloodless, 

Congress  passed  an  Act  fixing  boundaries,  granting  a 
civil  government  to  New  Mexico  and  to  Texas  a  bonus  of 
ten  millions  of  dollars,  in  United  States  bonds  bearing  in 
terest  at  five  per-cent,  on  condition  of  her  relinquishment  of 
-all  land  exterior  to  those  boundaries  as  well  as  of  all  claims 
on  the  United  States  and  of  a  territorial  government  in  New 
Mexico,  whose  four  years  of  military  rule  were  now  over. 
This  was  the  second  of  the  six  "  Compromise  Measures  ". 

The  policy  of  President  Fillmore  contrasts  sharply  with 
that  of  President  Taylor,  the  one  illustrating  civil  and  the 
other  military  methods. 

The  United  States  in  1850  contained  twenty-four  million 
souls  and  over  543,783  more  square  miles  than  under  pre 
vious  administrations. 


68 


CHAPTER  XII. 
Loyalty  to  the  Constitution. 

Few  persons  of  to-day  realize  how  near  the  American 
people,  in  1851,  were  to  civil  war.  We  should  recall  and 
understand  the  situation,  so  as  to  see  why  so  many  states 
men  believed  in  the  Compromise  Measures  of  that  year  and 
why  Millard  Fillmore  signed  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  and 
enforced  it  as  law. 

As  early  as  the  year  1815,  there  was  an  "Underground 
Railroad  "  and  regular  routes,  by  which  runaway  slaves 
passed  through  the  northern  states  and  reached  Canada, 
the  land  of  freedom.  By  1860,  there  was  a  vast  network 
of  known  roads  on  which  aiders  and  abettors  had  stations. 
About  five  hundred  slaves  were  run  off  every  year.  In  the 
twentieth  century  those  who  read  the  biographies  and  obitu 
aries  of  those  pious  law-breakers,  who  for  conscience  sake 
aided  the  black  refuges,  can  realize  how  dilligent  such  for 
warding  agents  were. 

These  facts,  added  fuel  to  the  flame  of  hatred  already 
burning  in  the  breasts  of  the  three  hundred  thousand  slave 
holders  of  the  South,  who  directed  the  politics  of  eleven 
millions  of  peoples.  Their  feelings  found  lively  expression 
from  the  state  governors.  Meeting  in  convention  at  Nash 
ville,  they  resolved  "  that  a  secession  by  the  joint  action  of 
the  slave-holding  states  is  the  only  efficient  remedy  for 
the  aggravated  wrongs  which  they  now  endure,  and  the 
enormous  events  which  threaten  them  in  the  future  from 
the  usurped  and  now  unrestricted  power  of  the  Federal 
Government."  In  Indiana  and 'Alabama,  the  same  spirit 
which  was  "stirring  the  fire  with  the  sword,"  prevailed. 
South  Carolina,  it  had  been  declared,  "will  interpose  her 
own  sovereignty,  sooner  than  submit  to  the  aggressions  of 
the  Federal  Congress."  The  Governor  of  Virginia  asserted 

69 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

later  that  ''any  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  I/aw,  or  any 
essential  modification  of  it,  is  a  mutual  repeal  of  the  Union." 
In  Mississippi,  Jefferson  Davis,  nominated  on  the  issue  of 
withdrawing  the  state  from  the  Union,  had  received  8,000 
votes.  It  was  believed  that  defeat  of  -the  Conservatives  of 
the  North — the  men  advocating  compromise  in  preference 
to  civil  war — would  mean  <c  the  death  knell  of  the  Union." 
Kven  such  straws  as  postage  reform  and  the  incoming  of 
Western  influence  were  hoped  for  in  favor  of  unity. 
Drowning  men  caught  at  these  to  save  the  Union. 

Mr.  Fillmore  believed  in  the  peaceable  policy  of  emanci 
pating  and  colonizing  the  negroes  in  Africa.  He  was 
elected  to  and  accepted  the  vice-presidency  of  the  American 
Colonization  Society,  June  30,  1851.  In  his  message  to 
Congress,  December  6,  1852,  he  wrote  out  a  plan,  which  in 
print  covers  twelve  pages  in  the  "  Fillmore  Papers  "  (Vol. 
I,  pp.  313-325),  but  the  members  of  his  Cabinet,  fearing 
that  his  recommendation  of  a  scheme  of  gradual  emancipa 
tion,  including  colonization  and  compensation,  would  pre 
cipitate  civil  war,  dissuaded  him  from  making  it  public. 

None  knew  more  than  Fillmore  himself  that  if  he  signed 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  it  would  be  the  death  blow  to  his 
personal  popularity  in  the  North,  and  that  the  great  portion 
of  his  political  frie\ids  would  be  alienated  forever.  Indeed, 
his  wife  told  him  so  and  made  it  clear  to  him.  Neverthe 
less,  when  he  saw  his  duty  to  the  whole  country,  all 
thoughts  of  self-interest  were  like  a  feather  in  the  scale. 
No  Samurai  of  Japan  was  ever  more  loyal  to  conviction  than 
this  true  American.  Abraham  Lincoln  always  sustained 
the  legality  and  enforcement  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 

The  vote  on  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  was  less  than  two- 
thirds,  so  that  except  for  the  President's  approval,  it  might 
not  have  become  law.  When  the  document  was  laid  before 
Mr.  Fillmore,  he  submitted  it  to  the  Attorney  General, 
Mr.  Crittenden,  who  pronounced  it  constitutional*  This 

70 


LOYALTY  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION 

decided  the  President  and  he  at  once  affixed  his  signature, 
September  18,  1850. 

The  view  held  in  common  by  Clay,  Webster,  Fillmore, 
and  Lincoln,  was  that  the  paramount  issue  before  the  na 
tion  was  not  slavery,  but  national  growth.  Webster  be 
lieved  that  the  limits  of  slavery  were  fixed  by  nature,  which 
had  set  impassable  barriers,  and  that  gradual  emancipation 
was  certain  in  time.  "  Slavery  was  sure  to  die  everywhere 
of  its  own  weakness  ",  as  fast  as  it  was  to  the  interest  of 
the  slave  and  humanity  that  it  should  be  extinguished. 
Slavery  was  recognized  by  the  Constitution.  Northern 
people  thought  and  acted  as  if  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law 
created  an  obligation,  whereas  it  had  been  in  the  Constitu 
tion,  though  virtually  forgotten,  during  sixty  years.  Web 
ster  realized  the  colossal  task  of  holding  in  union  the  North 
and  South,  and  believed  with  all  his  heart  and  soul  in  Fill- 
niore's  policy  of  harmony  and  adjustment.  In  a  word,  he 
was  consistent  with  his  lifelong  record  as  a  patriot  and 
statesman. 

The  adjournment  of  Congress  was  succeeded  by  a  shower 
of  slavery-justifying  sermons,  novels  and  books,  while  the 
periodicals  joined  to  shout  the  anti-slavery  agitation  into 
silence.  Yet  on  this,  as  on  most  national  questions,  there 
was  a  difference,  according  to  geography.  Opinion  and 
feeling  in  the  great  maritime  cities,  which  desired  business 
tranquillity,  and  in  the  inland  cities  and  rural  districts, 
varied  according  to  interests.  The  agricultural  people  in 
the  North  insisted  on  the  repeal  of  this  law  but  the  same 
class  in  the  South,  long  irritated  by  the  escape  of  fugitives 
from  labor,  cried  out  that  their  "  property"  was  in  danger, 
unless  the  law  was  enforced.  Social  wrongs  might  find  an 
anti-social  remedy — secession  ;  but  this  was  denounced  by 
many  as  absurd  and  impracticable.  Nature  and  art,  it  was 
declared,  bind  together  the  North  and  South  ;  most  of  t)ie 
great  rivers  flow  through  both  slave  and  free  states  and 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

therefore  the  Union  was  according  to  Providence.  It  was 
very  soon  evident  that  those  in  charge  of  the  slavery  propa 
ganda  had  committed  the  very  worst  of  blunders  in  strategy. 

The  first  arrest  under  the  new  law  was  in  New  York.  In 
less  than  three  hours  the  slave  was  being  carried  southward, 
but  the  North  was  at  once  aflame.  Boston  was  humiliated 
by  the  arrest  and  return  of  Anthony  Burns,  Hon.  Charles 
N.  Devins  being  the  United  States  Marshal.  United  States 
troops  from  Fort  Independence  acted  a  posse  comitatus. 
This  provoked  a  fierce  tempest  of  opposition.  "We  must 
trample  the  law  under  our  feet  ",  cried  Wendell  Phillips. 
Whittier  kindled  and  swept  men's  emotions  to  flame,  as  of 
prairie  fire  in  the  wind,  with  his  poem,  "  The  Rendition  ". 
To  feel  the  heat  of  the  times,  one  must  read  again  the 
verses  printed  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  entitled  "  The 
Flaunting  Lie",  denouncing  the  American  flag,  by  Miles 
O'Reilly  (Charles  G.  Halpine)  when  the  fugitive  slave, 
Anthon}'  Burns,  was  taken  on  the  United  States  revenue 
/7cutter  to  Virginia.  Thus  it  was  declared  the  stars  and 
stripes  were  prostituted  to  slavery's  power. 

A  good  deal  of  the  rebel  spirit  of  disloyalty,  nullification 
and  anarchy  in  the  north  masked  itself  under  the  name  of 
Puritanism — a  word  as  often  and  as  foully  abused  as  is  that 
of  liberty.  In  Faneuil  Hall  a  resolution  was  carried  that 
"Constitution  or  no  constitution,  law  or  no  law,  we  will 
not  allow  a  fugitive  slave  to  be  taken  from  the  State  of 
Massachusetts  ' ' .  This  was  supposed  to  be  the  quintessence 
of  "Puritan"  patriotism.  Certain  people  in  the  north 
thought  that  defiance  of  the  National  Government  was  both 
"  higher  law  "  and  loyalty  to  State  Right.  With  much  of 
the  glee  of  incoming  passengers  from  Europe,  who  hood 
wink  the  customs  inspectors,  men  gloated  over  their  law 
lessness.  Other  incidents,  apart  from  the  signature  of  the 
executive,  combined  to  make  the  new  law  unspeakably 
,  odious.  Yet  Mr.  Fillmore's  conscience  was  clear.  He  was 
president  of  the  whole  country  and  not  part  of  it  only. 

72 


LOYALTY  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION 

"With  what  face",  Mr.  Fillmore  argued,  "could  we 
require  the  South  to  comply  with  their  constitutional  obli 
gations,  while  we  in  the  North  openly  refused  to  live  up  to 
ours  by  the  nullification  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  ?  "  His 
action  in  this,  he  considered,  as  do  thousands  now,  was  one 
of  the  most  unselfish  and  patriotic  of  his  life. 

The  real  effect  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  to  prevent 
the  extension  of  slavery  to  other  parts  of  the  continent. 
Not  a  dozen  cases  are  known  of  runaway  slaves  being 
restored  to  their  owners  under  this  act. 

The  ex  post  facto  provisions  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  in 
which  it  violated  the  Constitution,  were  its  worst;  features. 
These  were  most  galling  to  the  North,  for  already  over 
twenty  thousand  fugitive  slaves  were  dwelling  in  the  free 
states.  At  once,  a  myriad  of  these  fled  to  Canada.  Terrot-'' 
stricken  colored  members  of  the  churches  all  along  the 
northern  border  of  the  free  states,  sharing  the  fears  of  the 
self-emancipated,  and  liable  to  forcible  return  to  the  house  \ 
of  bondage,  began  a  great  movement  toward  freedom  under 
the  British  flag.  Their  feeling  was  like  that  of  the  Hugue 
nots  of  1690,  in  New  York,  during  Leisler's  time,  when 
possible  slavery  in  the  French  galleys  disturbed  the  dreams 
of  the  exiles. 

In  February,  1851,  100  members  of  the  Baptist  Church 
in  Buffalo  had  crossed  the  Niagara  River  and  many  from 
the  Methodist  Church  also.  Of  114  colored  Baptists  in 
Rochester,  112  moved  with  their  pastor  over  the  line.  In 
Detroit,  84  members  of  the  Baptist  church  turned  their 
backs  to  the  alleged  "land  of  the  free."  During  the 
summer,  it  was  thought,  six  thousand  colored  persons  fled 
to  Canada.  Vigilance  committees  were  formed  among  the 
black  people  to  give  notice  of  the  corning  of  the  slave 
captors.  It  was  almost  like  the  exodus  of  sub-patriotic  I 
white  men,  in  1862-63,  fleeing  to  Canada  to  escape  the\ 

draft. 

> 

73 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

Hitherto  the  national  constitution  had  been  automatic, 
working  for  itself.  Now,  it  had  to  be  enforced,  if  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  was  constitutional,  by  the  armed 
strength  of  the  nation.  The  organized  slave  power,  backed 
by  the  might  of  the  central  government,  was  invading  the 
area  of  free  soil. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  doctrine  of  State  Right,  hitherto 
held  as  the  chief  tenet  and  most  vigorously  applied  by 
slave  holders,  now  worked  for  freedom.  The  legislatures 
of  the  northern  states  began  to  frame  and  pass  personal 
liberty  bills,  which  virtually  annulled  the  provisions, 
especially  those  deemed  unconstitutional,  of  the  slave- 
catching  law. 

In  the  South  the  calm  was  almost  as  ominous  as  the 
quiet  of  preparation  that  precedes  a  great  battle.  From 
the  great  debate  in  the  Senate,  orators  rested  and  ' '  Vesu 
vius  was  capped  for  awhile  " — but  only  that  a  Kirishima 
earthquake  might  come  later. 

Cotton  had  triumphed  over  tobacco,  Virginia,  with  its 
soil  exhausted,  had  seen  its  sceptre  pass  to  South  Carolina, 
and  was  now  a  breeding  place  for  slaves  to  be  sold  further 
South — twelve  thousand  a  year.  Nevertheless,  while 
slavery  was  rampant  and  earth-hungry,  the  Union  was  the 
idol  of  the  American  heart.  The  West,  now  becoming  the 
dominant  factor  in  the  conflict  held  the  balance  of  power. 
After  statesmen  should  have  failed  to  settle  the  issue,  it 
was  to  send  forth  hosts  of  soldiers  trained  in  the  doctrines 
of  Daniel  Webster,  to  save  the  Union. 

Something  of  the  tension  of  mind  above  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line,  somewhat  of  the  electricity  of  passion  that 
Already  surcharged  the  air,  may  be  recalled,  not  only  from 
boyhood's  memories  of  exciting  scenes  in  Philadelphia, 
when  defiant  crowds  opposed  United  States  marshals  at 
tempting  to  recapture  runaway  slaves,  but  from  the  events 
of  the  time  and  the  reminiscences  of  friends  of  the  Presi 
dent  who  "  damned  himself  with  his  own  pen." 

74 


LOYALTY  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION 

"In  1850,"  wrote  one  in  1907,  "  three  hundred  thousand 
slaveholders,  under  the  lead  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  had  not 
only  got  the  ten  millions  of  the  South  in  their  grip,  but 
practically  and  politically  the  twenty  millions  of  the  North 
as  well."  Indeed,  I  have  myself  heard  Southern  men, 
bravest  of  the  brave  among  Confederate  veterans,  say  that 
the  Civil  War  "emancipated  eleven  million  white  men." 

There  were  Unionists  in  the  South  who  sustained  the 
President  as  a  wise,  far-seeing  and  unselfish  patriot.  In 
view  of  the  order  to  the  troops  to  support  the  United  States 
Marshal,  the  Augusta  Chronicle  of  March  4,  1851,  wrote: 
"  What  a  terrible  blow  Mr.  Fillmore  has  inflicted  upon  the 
Southern  disunionists."  The  Boston  negro  rioters  were 
their  last  hope,  and  if  they  are  not  put  down,  the  dis- 
unionists  are  doomed." 

It  is  to  be  noted  also  that  Benjamin  Robbins  Curtis, 
whom  Mr.  Fillmore  appointed  as  associate  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  dissented  from  Judge  Taney's  decision  in 
the  Dred  Scott  case  of  1857. 

Professor  Hosmer,  son  of  Mr.  Fillmore' s  Unitarian 
Church  pastor  in  Buffalo,  wrote  in  1905:  "It  is  sad  I 
think,  that  a  pure  and  well  meaning,  though  not  at  all  a 
great  man,  should  have  been  caught  in  such  a  public  crisis 
and  that  he  should  be  pilloried  as  a  weakling  and  a  '  dough 
face,'  and  his  good  record  as  a  patriotic,  efficient  public 
man  quite  forgotten,  As  to  slavery,  I  believe  his  position 
to  have  been  about  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  Con 
stitution  recognized  slavery  and  required  the  return  of 
fugitives.  Lincoln  was  ready  to  do  it.  My  father  (Rev. 
Dr.  Hosmer)  a  strong  anti-slavery  man  but  not  an  extreme 
abolitionist,  talked  intimately  with  Mr.  Fillmore,  about 
signing  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  who  declared  earnestly 
that  he  thought  it  the  only  way  to  avert  a  civil  war.  I- 
have  heard  men  say  this,  and  I  think  it  not  unreasonable  : 
that,  as  things  have  turned  out,  Mr.  Fillmore  really 

75 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

rendered  his  country  a  vast  service  ;  but  for  the  signing  of 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  and  other  temporizing  and  con 
ciliatory  acts,  the  war  would  have  come  ten  years  earlier 
than  it  did.  In  '51  the  North  was  not  as  well  prepared  for 
it  as  it  was  in  '61,  and  probably  the  t[nion  would  have 
been  destroyed." 

Another  declared,  "But  for  that  scratch  of  Fillmore's 
pen,  the  Union  would  have  gone  by  the  board." 

When  Rev.  Dr.  Hosmer  remonstrated  with  his  parish- 
oner,  Mr.  Fillmore,  for  signing  the  Bill,  the  President 
"raised  his  hands  in  vehement  appeal.  He  had  only  a 
choice  between  terrible  evils — to  inflict  suffering  which  he 
hoped  might  be  temporary,  or  to  precipitate  an  era  of 
bloodshed,  with  the  destruction  of  the  country  as  a  probabe 
result Of  two  imminent  evils  he  had,  as  he  be 
lieved,  chosen  the  lesser".  One  must  remember  that,  in 
1850,  the  East  and  West  had  not  yet  been  bound  by  the 
railways  into  mutual  interest,  but  that  the  Mississippi  river 
was  the  great  route  south  or  west,  nor  had  the  great  emi 
gration  of  Germans,  Irish  and  other  lovers  of  freedom,  yet 
furnished  material  for  the  Union  armies. 

Mr.  Sellstedt,  the  Buffalo  artist,  asked  Mr.  Filmore  why 
he  signed  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  when  he  must  have 
known  it  would  hurt  his  political  prestige.  He  replied 
that  it  was  by  the  advice  of  Mr.  Webster,  his  Secretary  of 
State.  The  substance  of  it  was  already  in  the  Constitution 
and  it  was  thought  best  to  give  way  to  the  South  till  the 
territories  were  made  states,  when  a  constitutional  amend 
ment  could  be  hoped  for. 

Mr.  James  Ford  Rhodes,  who,  in  1912,  received  the 
gold  medal  of  the  National  Institute  of  Arts  and  Letters, 
for  History,  says  "This  infamous  act  (The  Fugitive  Slave 
Law)  had  blasted  the  reputation  of  every  one  who  had  any 
connection  with  it,  and  he  (Millard  Fillmore)  had  suffered 
with  the  rest,  yet  it  appeared  to  me  unjustly." 

76 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
Our  Policy  of  Non-intervention. 

Revolution  sometimes  precedes  reformation.  With  Japan, 
between  1825  and  1853,  there  was  first  of  all  interior  recon 
struction  in  thought  and  principle  ;  hence  in  1868,  the  year 
of  opportunity,  true  reformation. 

In  1848,  while  Japan  was  getting  ready  to  go  forward, 
parts  of  Europe  retrograded.  The  long  calm  of  exhaustion, 
following  Waterloo,  was  broken  ;  but  without  sufficient 
preparation  to  bode  good.  The  storm  burst,  only  to  work, 
for  a  time  at  least,  more  destruction  than  construction. 
The  revolutions  of  1848  were,  for  the  most  part,  failures. 
Groaning  under  oppressive  conditions,  the  people  rose 
against  their  monarchs  and  struggled  to  be  free,  only  to  be 
forced  back,  into  old  conditions,  by  the  armies  of  despots. 
The  monarchs  of  Europe  taking  alarm  at  the  expulsion  of 
lyouis  Philippe  from  France,  massed  their  forces  to  crush, 
with  their  illiterate  hordes  of  armed  men,  the  uprising  of 
the  peoples,  who  hungered  for  education,  opportunity  and 
freedom. 

This  meant  that  refugees  pleading  for  help  would  be 
coming  numerously  to  America.  The  cause  they  repre 
sented  would  command  admiration.  Yet  woe  to  the  man 
among  them  who  would  mistake  sympathy  with  humanity 
for  personal  regard  !  No  more  frightful  disappointments 
await  men  who  are  indexes,  and  not  incarnations. 

In  Hungary,  Lajos  (Louis  Kossuth,)  voicing  his  country 
men's  aspirations,  led  in  throwing  off  the  yoke  of  Austria. 
Russian  intervention  blasted  their  patriotic  hopes  and  Kos 
suth  fled  to  Turkey  and  into  exile.  Devoting  himself  to 
the  English  Bible  and  to  Shakespeare,  this  speaker  of  a 
Turanian  language,  so  closely  akin  to  the  Japanese, 
mastered  the  English  Tongue  and  on  March  27,  1850,  sent 
an  address  to  the  American  people. 

77 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

There  was  instant  response,  with  intense  and  sympathetic 
excitement  in  the  United  States.  In  his  message  of  March 
28,  1849,  President  Taylor  made  reference  to  the  situation 
and  sent  Mr.  Dudley  Mann  to  Austria  and  Hungary  to  get 
the  real  facts  in  the  case.  The  Vienna  Court  at  once 
made  defiant  response.  Mr.  Hulsemann  the  Austrian 
charge  d'affaires,  reached  Washington  at  the  time  of  Tay 
lor's  decease.  Delaying  until  Mr.  Fillmore  came  into  office, 
he  presented  the  Austrian  protest  against  our  Government's 
action.  Among  the  dreadful  things  the  envoy  threatened 
was  an  appeal  to  arms. 

Such  a  farrago  of  ignorance  and  impudence,  as  this  letter 
of  Hiilsemann's,  was  never  offered  in  Washington,  and  no 
more  vigorous  reply  than  Fillmore' s  is  known  in  American 
diplomacy.  The  erudition  displayed  and  the  appeals  to 
history  made  are  the  Secretary's,  the  decision,  the  defiance, 
the  scorn  are  the  President's.  The  right  of  sending  an 
agent  of  inquiry  is  vindicated.  The  American  people  ' '  can 
not  fail  to  cherish  always  a  lively  interest  in  the  fortune  of 
nations  struggling  for  institutions  like  their  own."  The 
President  vindicates  his  predecessor's  policy  as  Consistent 
with  the  neutral  policy  of  the  United  States.  The  cabinet 
qf  Vienna  is  taken  ' '  into  the  presence  of  its  own  predeces 
sors."  The  warm  reception  given  by  the  Austrian  am- 
feassador  to  the  American  envoys,  in  Paris,  in  1777,  is 
recalled. 

To  Hulsemann' s  threats  of  war,  President  Fillmore  an- 
.  swered,  "  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is^willing 
to  take  its  chances  and  abide  its  destiny."  To  treat  Mr. 
Mann,  the  President's  agent  of  inquiry,  as  a  spy,  would 
mean  instant  reprisal,  "  to  be  waged  to  the  utmost  exertion 
of  the  power  of  the  Republic  military  and  naval. ' '  Nothing 
will  deter  the  United  States  from  displaying  "  at  their  dis 
cretion,  the  rights  belonging  to  them  as  an  independent 
nation,  and  of  expressing  their  own  opinions  freely." 

78 


OUR  POLICY  OF  NON-INTERVENTION 

The  rhetoric  of  this  communication  was  Webster's,  but 
the  spirit  and  substance  were  Fillmore's.  The  President  at 
once  dispatched  the  U.  S.  S.  S.  Mississippi  to  Turkey,  to 
secure  the  release  of  the  Hungarian  refugees,  but  Kossuth 
did  not  come  directly  to  the  United  States.  Piloted  by  a 
British  officer  of  the  Horse  Guards,  who  was  to  entertain 
him,  he  landed  in  England  and  began  making  addresses. 
His  auditors  were  amazed  at  his  fluency  in  English.  The 
British  Liberals  praised  warmly  President  Fillmore's  rebuke 
of  Hiilsemann,  which  hostile  partisans  at  home  dubbed  a 
"  stump  speech  under  diplomatic  guise  ". 

In  storm  and  in  sunshine,  plants  and  men  act  differently. 
The  real  test  of  Kossuth  was  to  come.  As  against  Austrian 
oppression,  he  seemed  an  ideal  hero,  a  champion  of  the 
rights  of  man  and  of  constitutional  government.  Could  he 
remain  so  on  our  soil,  he  was  sure  to  fire  the  Anglo-Saxon 
heart  and  touch  its  purse.  If,  however,  his  ideas  were 
purely  local  and  his  aims  parochial  and  selfish,  he  was  fore 
doomed  to  bitter  disappointment. 

It  was  just  this  failure  to  touch  the  mind  and  heart  of  the 
thinking  man,  as  distinct  from  the  crowd  who  shouted 
huzzas  or  ate  dinners  in  honor  of  a  picturesque  visitor,  that 
accounts  for  Kossuth' s  inability  in  1850  to  move  the  men 
worth  moving.  ' '  Kossuth  ceased  to  be  a  hero,  when  he 
touched  British  soil  ",  said  the  London  Times.  The  bril 
liant  orator  excited  sympathy,  but  he  secured  no  direct  aid. 

Mr.  Fillmore  had  kept  his  eyes  upon  every  phase  of  that 
agitated  volcano  in  Europe,  and  in  1848.  Yet  for  him,  as 
president,  there  was  but  one  compelling  precedent, — that 
set  by  Washington.  When  Kossuth,  with  his  party  of 
about  twenty  persons,  appeared  in  the  nation's  capital, 
Webster  asked  for  the  Hungarian  an  interview.  Mr.  Fill 
more's  answer  was  as  prompt  as  it  was  businesslike. 

"  If  he  wants  simply  an  introduction,  I  will  see  him,  but 
if  he  wants  to  make  a  speech  to  me,  I  must  respectfully 
decline  to  see  him." 

79 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

Webster  answered,  "  He  has  promised  not  to  make  a 
speech  ' ' . 

4 '  Very  well,  then ' ' ,  said  the  President,  ' '  I  will  see  him  ' ' . 

Kossuth,  with  a  glittering  retinue,  came  the  next  day, 
December  31  to  the  White  House.  The  interview  was 
strictly  private.  Reporters  and  the  Hungarian  suite  were 
excluded.  Instantly  Kossuth  began  a  lengthy  speech. 
When  he  had  finished,  Mr.  Fillmore  said  that  he  "  most 
decidedly  could  not,  and  would  not,  interfere  in  the  affairs 
of  a  foreign  nation." 

A  dinner  was  given  at  the  Executive  Mansion,  at  which 
there  were  thirty-two  guests.  There  were  present  the 
Cabinet  secretaries  and  their  wives,  three  ladies  of  the 
White  House,  members  of  the  Senate  and  House  com 
mittees,  the  presiding  officer  acting  as  Vice-president  and 
Speaker  of  the  House,  with  Kossuth  and  his  suite  in  bril 
liant  military  uniforms. 

In  the  Senate  the  Hungarian  was  received  with  the  same 
ceremonies  as  were  held  in  welcome  of  Lafayette.  Cass, 
Foote,  and  Seward,  whose  speeches  make  strange  reading 
to-day,  lost  their  heads,  seeing  in  Kossuth  a  new  Washing 
ton.  Yet  while  banquets  were  given  in  the  Hungarian's 
favor,  there  were  anti-Kossuth  dinners,  also.  Crittenden 
advised  his  hearers  to  stand  in  the  old  road  ' '  that  every 
president,  from  Washington  to  Fillmore  travelled,"  Clay's 
dying  words  showed  that  he  believed  that  there  was  "no 
hope  for  republicanism  yet  in  Europe  ". 

The  Chevalier  Hiilsemann  lost  both  his  temper  and  his 
manners.  He  sent  a  note  of  protest  against  the  reception 
of  Kossuth,  and  this,  not  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  but  to 
the  President.  At  once  the  Austrian  was  notified  that  he 
could  withdraw  from  Washington  within  twenty-four  hours, 
jvhich  he  did.  Retiring  from  his  post,  he  left  his  duties  in 
charge  of  Mr.  August  Belmont,  of  New  York.  It  was  a 
case  of  good  riddance. 

80 


OUR  POLICY  OF  NON-INTERVENTION 

The  Hungarian  had  misinterpreted  the  motives  and  pur 
pose  of  our  Government  in  inviting  him  to  the  United 
States.  Mr.  Fillmore  had  secured  the  release  of  Kossuth 
and  the  national  frigate,  Mississippi,  had  been  sent  to  Tur 
key  to  bring  him  to  America.  All  this  was  done  in  the  ex 
pectation  that  the  liberated  man  would  settle  down  quietly 
in  his  American  asylum.  It  was  not  imagined  that  the 
Hungarian  would  make  the  United  States  the  basis  of  agita 
tion  against  Austria. 

Some  aspirants  to  the  presidency,  ready  to  use  every 
public  movement  as  motor  or  vehicle,  hoped  to  rise  on  the 
wave  of  Kossuthism  to  fame  and  power.  One  New  York 
paper  denominated  Kossuth  ' '  a  trump  card  skillfully  played, 
which  may  win  the  White  House."  Many  ladies,  captivated 
with  the  Hungarian's  eloquence,  kissed  him.  When  he 
lectured  in  Plymouth  Church  in  Brooklyn,  Mr.  Beecher 
carried  some  rusty  cannon  balls,  alleged  to  be  from  Bunker 
Hill,  into  the  pulpit.  Other  ministers  went  wild.  A  Bible 
was  given  him  and  Protestant  hopes  were  high.  During 
the  "  Kossuth  mania,"  besides  some  dollars,  a  number  of 
American  relics,  such  as  locks  of  hair  of  Washington  and 
Jefferson  were  received  by  the  patriot,  but  he  and  his  suite 
hungered  for  more  solid  tokens  of  approval.  Europeans 
saw  that,  whether  it  was  Jenny  L,ind,  or  Kossuth,  as  indi 
cators  of  the  winds  of  favor  or  neglect,  the  American  peo 
ple  furnished  a  very  inflammable  body. 

Was  Kossuth  a  Lafayette  or  a  Genet?  Four  hundred- 
diners  sat  down  in  New  York  to  his  honor.  Webster's  cool 
letter  was  hissed.  The  New  York  Democratic  Central  Com 
mittee  declared  that  "  100,000  armed  men  will  rally  around 
the  American  standard  to  be  unfurled  on  the  field,  when 
the  issue  between  freedom  and  despotism  is  to  be  decided." 
Many  delegations  waited  on  Kossuth  and  he  replied  adroitly 
to  each  one.  It  was  astonishing  how  American  air  stimu 
lated  good  appetite.  The  average  native  was  quite  ready 
6  81 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

to  eat  high-priced  dinners  on  behalf  of  down-trodden  Eu 
rope,  but  he  had  no  real  sentiment  in  favor  of  intervention, 
nor  were  the  "  sinews  of  war  "  forthcoming.  Of  the  $160,- 
ooo  raised  in  the  United  States,  $130,000  were  spent  on 
banquets  and  personal  expenses,  and.  only  $30,000  for 
muskets.  Instead  of  floating  $1,000,000  worth  of  bonds  of 
the  Hungarian  republic,  the  visitors  scarcely  got  enough  to 
keep  a  regiment  in  the  field  two  months. 

Kossuth  approved  highly  of  the  coup  d'etat  of  Napoleon 
III.  in  December  2,  1851,  but  he  had  no  word  of  commen 
dation  of  the  free  soil  or  abolition  movement.  In  the 
South,  he  found  that  people  were  not  warm  in  his  cause. 
To  the  slave  holders,  the  logic  in  the  case  was  as  clear  as 
when  the  Dutch  Beggars  of  the  Sea  were  fighting  against 
Philip  II.  of  Spain.  Queen  Elizabeth  Tudor  could  not  ap 
prove  of  people  rebelling  against  their  princes,  though  she 
might  permit  her  merchants  to  lend  them  money  to  the 
amount  of  ,£100,000  at  high  rates  of  interest.  Men  hold 
ing  blacks  in  bondage  and  wishing  to  extend  slave  territory 
reasoned  that  the  more  freedom  in  the  world  the  less  chance 
for  slavery.  No,  they  would  not  cheer  Kossuth. 

Mr.  Fillmore  was  somewhat  puzzled  at  Kossuth's  en 
dorsement  of  Napoleon  III,  in  turning  the  French  Republic 
into  an  empire.  On  the  2gth  of  May  previous,  in  welcom 
ing  the  new  minister  of  France,  M.  de  Sartiges,  the  Presi 
dent  had  said  "Our  friendship  with  France  originated 
with  our  struggle  for  a  national  existence  and  was  cemented 
by  the  mingling  of  the  blood  of  our  Revolutionary  sires 

with  that  of  their  allies,  the  heroes  of  France The 

American  people  hailed  with  unaffected  delight  your  recent 
advent  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  as  a  sister  republic. 
...  I  again  welcome  you  to  our  shores  as  the  diplomatic 
agent  of  the  leading  republic  of  Europe." 

A  few  months  later,  not  with  enthusiasm,  but  in  due 
routine  of  politeness,  the  President  of  the  United  States 

82 


OUR  POLICY  OF  NON-INTERVENTION 

received  the  next  envoy  from  France,  but  this  time  from  a 
mushroom  Empire,  with  a  despot  at  the  head  of  it.  The 
close  resemblance  between  the  French  Empire  and  a  South 
American  republic  ruled  by  a  dictator  seemed  to  irreverent 
Americans  comical  in  the  extreme.  Later  on,  France 
nobly  redeemed  herself. 

By  the  middle  of  January,  *  *  Kossuthism  "  was  over,  and 
the  wise  handling  of  the  matter  by  the  President  was  mani 
fest  to  all.  Our  peaceful  armada,  under  Perry,  was  left 
free  to  sail  to  Japan  and  help  to  begin  the  making  of  an 
Asian  nation  holding  Anglo-Saxon  ideals. 

Kossuth's  visit  fixed,  it  did  not  shake,  the  non-interven 
tion  policy  of  the  United  States.  President  Fillmore  dis 
appointed  alike  the  war  contractors  and  unscrupulous 
partisans.  A  thousand  newspapers  declared  for  Kossuth, 
but  when  he  criticized  the  American  Government,  his 
journeys,  instead  of  being  like  those  of  an  Emperor,  fell 
off  in  importance.  With  steady  skill,  Fillmore  foiled  the 
wild  rage  of  partisans  who  strove  to  embroil  the  United 
States  in  war  with  foreign  powers.  He  clung  to  wisest 
tradition  and  to  saving  precedent,  thus  reinforcing  the  de 
termination  of  the  American  people  neither  to  enter  into 
"  entangling  alliances  ",  nor  to  go  to  war  with  one  country 
on  behalf  of  another. 

Only  once,  perhaps,  does  it  appear  that  our  Government 
failed  in  maintaining,  or  at  least  in  properly  manifesting 
its  approval  of  a  policy  as  old  as  the  nation  itself.  When 
in  1900,  Rear- Admiral  Louis  Kempff,  of  the  United  States 
Navy,  during  the  Boxer  uprising,  refused  to  violate  our 
peace  with  China  and  join  with  the  allies  in  making  war 
on  China,  by  the  utterly  unnecessary  bombardment  of  the 
Taku  forts,  he  received  no  word  of  approval  or  commenda 
tion  from  Washington.  President  and  Congress  were  silent, 
while  the  yellow  press  misrepresented,  distorted  and  de 
nounced.  To  this  day,  though  later,  instant  upon  the 

83 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

news  received,  the  telegraph  was  made  hot  to  send  con 
gratulations  upon  the  slaughter  of  Filipino  men,  women 
and  children  by  our  soldiers,  this  gallant  naval  officer 
Admiral  Kempff  has  received  no  public  justification.  He 
is  not  alone  in  American  history.  • 

Fillmore's  unswerving  action  in  the -case  of  Hungary 
made  later  deliverances,  from  pro-Fenianism,  pro-Armeni- 
aniam,  pro-Boer  republicanism  and  pro-Mexicanism,  quite 
easy.  In  1906,  Maxim  Gorky's  appeals  for  revolutionary 
Russia  fell  flat.  We  best  help  liberty  throughout  the 
world  by  having  a  strong  Government,  able  to  make  its 
voice,  advice,  remonstrance,  or  warning  heard  in  the  coun 
cils  of  the  governments  of  Europe  and  the  nations  of  the 
world. 

In  his  own  country  Kossuth,  who  died  in  1894,  nas  been 
nobly  honored  and  commemorated.  His  son  who  walked 
in  his  fathers'  footsteps,  as  champion  of  Hungary,  lived 
to  win  like  honors  in  life  until  his  death  in  1914. 


84 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Yankee  in  Europe. 

The  Fillmore  era  was  one  of  almost  boundless  material 
prosperity.  It  was  also  the  time  when  "This  glorious 
Yankee  nation.  .  .  .  the  greatest  and  the  best" — as  we 
boys  used  to  sing  in  "  the  fifties," — when  our  nation  made 
itself  known- in  new  fashion  to  Europe  and  Asia.  Under 
Fillmore' s  administration,  the  American  people  gave  two 
notable  displays  of  their  national  products  and  manu 
factures,  one  in  England  and  one  in  Japan.  Of  these  in 
dustrial  expositions,  at  opposite  ends  of  the  earth,  after 
"  A  cycle  of  Cathay  "  —that  is,  sixty  years,  we  may  well 
ask,  which  was  the  more  influential  ? 

Under  the  glass  and  iron  dome  of  the  Crystal  Palace  in 
London,  Yankee  notions  of  all  sorts  were  introduced  to 
Europe  and  the  world.  On  the  strand  at  Yokohama, 
Americans  brought  to  the  Japanese  their  implements  and 
devices  as  object  lessons  in  Western  civilization.  This 
was  a  thousand  years  after  that  first  exhibition  in  Japan  of 
Greek,  Persian,  Hindoo,  Korean  and  Chinese  arts  at  Nara 
— and  in  a  building  erected  A.D.  784  and  still  standing, 
the  oldest  wooden  edifice  in  the  world — which  placed  their 
island  country  at  the  head  of  all  schools  of  art  in  Asia.  In 
1854,  the  Japanese  saw  the  first  formal  display  of  modern 
industries  and  inventions,  by  the  seashore  of  a  region 
which,  in  Nara  days,  was  in  their  uncivilized  "far  East." 

The  peoples  of  America  and  Great  Britain  were  making 
mighty  progress  in  that  fine  art  of  mutual  understanding, 
which,  in  the  light  of  the  Anglo-American  Exposition  in 
London  in  1914,  and  the  peace-centennial  is  still  in  con 
tinuance.  At  the  banquet  of  the  New  England  Society  in 
New  York,  which  is  powerful  in  nourishing  international 
friendship,  on  December  i,  1850,  Sir  Henry  Bulwer  "out 
shone  even  American  eloquence  on  American  topics." 

85 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

To  the  Crystal  Palace  World's  Fair,  which  was  the 
invention  or  discovery  of  H.  R.  H.  Prince  Albert,  the 
United  States  sent  a  thousand  tons  of  products  of  American 
industry,  more  particularly  to  get  "  reciprocity  oi  valuable 
suggestions."  The  exhibits  were  loaded  on  the  frigate 
St.  Lawrence. 

Millard  Fillmore  was  chairman,  and  on  the  committee  of 
twenty,  besides  Levi  Woodbury,  were  Joseph  Force,  Joseph 
Henry,  J.  J.  Greenough,  Charles  Wilkes,  W.  R.  Johnson, 
Jefferson  Davis,  A.  D.  Bache,  and  M.  F.  Maury.  The  cen 
tral  authorities  sent  out  circulars.  The  services  of  the  com 
missioners  were  gratuitious.  The  Government  refused  to 
pay  them  anything,  or  to  free  them  of  debt  if  involved. 
The  list  of  the  five  hundred  exhibitors  covers  three  pages 
of  the  New  York  Herald  of  Feb.  isth.  To  act  as  a  freighter, 
all  except  the  spar-deck  guns  of  the  warship  had  been  taken 
taken  out.  Her  lieutenants  were  George  H.  Preble,  C.  H. 
Boggs,  and  one  other  midshipman,  Henry  Erben,  all  of 
whom  we  have  since  known  as  admirals.  One  block  of 
zinc  from  the  New  Jersey  Export  and  Mining  Co.  weighed 
16,400  pounds. 

After  cargo  had  been  unloaded,  the  St.  Lawrence  was  or 
dered  to  take  on  the  remains  of  Commodore  Paul  Jones, 
"  the  first  republican  naval  officer  under  General  Washing 
ton  ",  and  then  supposed  to  have  been  discovered.  These, 
however,  were  found  in  Paris  by  General  Horace  Porter, 
over  fifty  years  later,  and  early  in  the  twentieth  century 
were  deposited  at  Annapolis,  receiving  permanent  repose 
under  a  glorious  monument  in  January,  1913. 

The  London  jokesmiths  were  busy.  Punch  had  a  good 
field  for  the  funmakers  in  the  miscellaneous  character  of 
the  Yankee  notions  and  "  institutions  "  visible  in  the  Crys 
tal  Palaces.  Indeed,  were  our  people  of  the  twentieth  cen 
tury,  able  to  see  that  collection  of  curiosities  reproduced, 
they  could  not  look  without  smiling  on  that  exhibition  of 

their  fathers  in  1851. 

86 


THE   YANKEE  IN  EUROPE 

The  Americans,  of  expansive  mind  had  pre-empted  a 
larger  space  in  the  Exposition  plan  they  were  able  to  fill, 
and  sarcastic  comment  was  made  on  the  vast  emptiness  in 
the  Crystal  Palace  theoretically  covered  by  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  but  not  occupied.  A  spirit  of  desolation  and  bar 
renness  seemed  to  brood  over  the  unfilled  area.  As  visitors 
were  flocking  in  from  abroad,  "  why  not  utilize  the  space, 
which  was  not  one-fourth  used,  as  lodging  places?  "  asked 
the  funny  men  of  the  quill.  Punch  said,  "The  United 
States  in  the  Exhibition  are  mainly  represented  by  a  very 
full  grown  eagle.  In  stretch  of  pinion  it  assuredly  licks 
any  live  specimen.  The  gigantic  bird  soars  over  next  to 
nothing.  Why  not  have  here  some  treasures  of  America, 
e.  g.  some  choice  specimens  of  slaves  ?  " 

When  on  August  22,  the  yacht  America  beat  the  British 
racing  boat  in  the  Channel,  and  won  the  ' '  Cup  of  the  Na 
tions,"  Punch  talked  gleefully  about  trans- Atlantic  im 
provement,  and  of  "Yankee  Doodle  at  Cowes."  In  the 
picture,  Punch  asks  of  crying  John  Bull  "Why,  Johnny 
what's  the  matter?"  Whereat,  John  Bull  answers  "  If 
you  please,  sir,  there  is  a  nasty,  ugly  American  been  beat 
ing  me." 

Great  rollers  of  wit  and  sarcasm  beat  against  the  statute 
of  "  the  Greek  Slave,"  representing  a  beautiful  young 
woman  exposed  in  her  nudity  in  the  open  market,  by  Hiram 
Powers — that  pioneer  and  educative  bit  of  plastic  art  which 
marked  the  history  of  American  taste  in  fine  arts,  and  soon, 
by  sinking  into  oblivion,  to  be  a  tide  mark.  By  the  English 
critics  of  1852,  black  skin  and  white  marble  were  con 
trasted.  Americans,  unable  to  see  themselves  as  others  see 
them,  were  blind  to  the  greater  anomaly  of  fettered  Pompey 
and  Dinah,  in  the  glorious  free  republic,  where  four  millions 
of  Americans  were  in  slavery.  Punch  said,  "  We  have  the 
Greek  Captive  in  dead  stone,  why  not  the  Virginian  slave 
in  living  ebony  ?  "  A  witty  poem  of  "  Sambo  to  the  Greek 

87 


MILLARD  FILL  MO  RE 

Slave,"  as  the  black  man  looked  upon  the  Carrara  marble, 
ran  : 

"  De  niggah  free,  de  minit  he  touch  de  English  soil 
Him  gentleman  of  colah'  now,  and  not  a  slave  no'mo'." 

"The  Buffalo  Sockdolger"  was  referred  to  as  proving 
that  France  is  great  and  England  weak. 

Fun  or  no  fun,  the  "  hearts  of  oak"  in  freedom-loving 
England  were  with  us.  Punch  had  a  noble  poem  entitled 
"  Lines  to  Brother  Jonathan  "  : 

"  In  soldier-ridden  Christendom  the  sceptre  is  the  sword, 

The  statutes  of  the  nations  from  the  cannon's  mouth  are  roared. 

They  hate  us,  Brother  Jonathan,  those  tyrants  they  detest, 

The  island  sons  of  liberty  and  freedom  of  the  West. 

They  would  bend  our  stiff  necks  to  priestcraft's  yoke. 

Stand  with  me,  Brother  Jonathan,  if  ever  need  should  be." 

Punch  said  further,  ' '  As  we  cannot  have  a  black  baby 
show,  let  us  have  a  black  or  two  stand  in  manacles,  as 
'  American  manufactures'  protected  by  the  American 
eagle."  Underneath  was  a  picture  illustrating  the  text  and 
giving  examples  of  American  products  and  of  slave  breed 
ing  farms,  where  twelve  thousand  black  folks  were  reared 
annually  to  be  sold  farther  south  in  the  cotton  belt. 

This  was  the  day  of  American  literary  piracy,  when  the 
cheap  re-printers,  who  paid  the  British  author  nothing, 
were  making  fortunes  that  are  enjoyed  to  this  day.  Punch 
in  1852,  with  a  pun  on  William  Penn's  name,  and  his  cove 
nant  with  the  Indians,  under  the  old  tree  at  Shackamaxon, 
wrote  and  pictured  ' '  The  New  Penn  Treaty  with  the 
Americans,"  urging  that  "  the  scissors  be  buried."  In  the 
catalogue  of  the  curiosities  found  inside  "  the  American  sea 
serpent,"  rarest  and  most  wonderful  of  all,  was  the  check 
book  used  by  one  American  publisher  for  British  authors. 

On  the  whole,  this  gathering  at  the  Court  of  Nations  was 
a  success.  The  Times  said,  "The  World's  Exhibition  of 
1851  opened  the  eyes  of  the  British  public  to  the  superiority 


THE  YANKEE  IN  EUROPE 

in  some  things  of  other  nations.  Common  sense  would 
come  to  the  rescue  and  there  would  be  improvement  in 
English  ways." 

As  for  the  Americans,  they  took  many  hints,  learned 
wisdom,  and  were  spurred  on  by  ambition  to  beat  the  British 
in  peaceful  rivalry.  Circulars  were  soon  out  for  an  exhibit 
of  the  industry  of  all  nations  to  be  held  in  New  York, 
which  would  make  up  for  American  defects  in  the  exhibi 
tion  at  "London.  A  second  "  Crystal  Palace  "  was  erected 
in  New  York,  on  the  ground  between  4oth  and  42nd  streets, 
on  Sixth  Avenue,  now  Bryant  Park,  and  opened  July  i4th, 
1853.  Instead  of  an  area  of  twenty  acres,  as  did  the  orig 
inal  in  Hyde  Park,  the  new  structure  covered  less  than  five. 
Precautions  against  fire,  in  what  Townsend  Harris,  in 
Japan,  called  "dear,  old  inflammable  New  York",  were  not 
scientific,  and  shortly  afterward,  this  Manhattan  palace  of 
iron  and  glass  melted  in  the  flames. 

Yet  the  new  spirit  of  sympathy  with  the  whole  world  had 
been  awakened  in  the  American  heart,  and  the  Centennial 
Exposition  in  Philadelphia,  the  Pan-American  at  Buffalo, 
the  White  City  at  Chicago  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exhibi 
tion  at  St.  Louis  and  the  Panama- Pacific  International  Ex 
position  at  San  Francisco,  in  1915,  tell  eloqdently  the  west 
ward  story  of  growth  from  the  good  seed  planted  by  Prince 
Albert  and  watered  by  President  Fillmore. 


89 


CHAPTER  XV. 
Our  Fla£  In  Every  Sea. 

'In  1914,  scarcely  a  score  of  ships  in  foreign  commerce 
sailed  under  the  American  flag.     In   1^50,  they  were  seen 
'in  every  sea.     The  stars  and  stripes  were  not  then  as  later, 
a  curiosity  abroad. 

With  a  large  navy  and  an  army  of  volunteers,  set  free 
after  the  Mexican  War,  and  with  nearly  two  million  square 
"miles  of  new  territory  open  to  American  enterprise,  Presi 
dent  Fillmore's  work  was  to  give  wise  outlets  to  the  nation's 
Resistless  energies.  L,ong  pent  up  between  the  Alleghenies 
and  the  Atlantic  and  living,  even  in  1850,  for  the  most 
part  east  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Pacific  Coast  was  to  our 
American  people,  an  "unoccupied  corner  of  the  world," 
Only  to  a  few  missionaries  and  traders  had  this  region,  until 
1849,  any  vital  association  with  American  life. 

Asia  was  still  the  continent  of  mystery.  ''The  Old 
World  ",  in  common  speech,  meant  Europe.  So  long  fac 
ing  ancestral  lands,  and  dependent  upon  them  for  supplies 
and  trade,  Americans,  except  a  few  prophetic  souls,  thought 
only  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  as  the  object  of  their  naval 
activities. 

The  Pacific  slope  was  a  colossal  gift  to  the  imagination. 
Oregon  and  California  opened  new  vistas,  furnished  new 
frontiers,  and  gave  us  an  outlook  upon  Asia.  Commerce, 
expanding  suddenly  and  wonderfully,  called  for  a  fresh 
outburst  of  national  energy.  At  the  trumpet  calls,  the 
American  people  faced  about. 

At  peace  with  the  world,  our  large  navy  was  at  once 
divided  and  detailed  to  grapple  with  the  nobler  enterprises 
of  peace.  Nine  surveying  expeditions,  eight  in  the  Atlantic 
and  one  in  the  Pacific,  were  planned.  One  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  men  in  nearly  three  million  tons  of  ship- 

90 


OUR  FLAG  IN  EVERY  SEA 

ping — numbers  then  greater  than  those  of  any  nation  in 
the  world — were  in  1850  massed  under  the  stars  and  stripes. 

This  was  the  golden  age  of  American  commerce  and 
naval  science.  In  our  era  af  submarine  cables,  overland 
wires  and  wireless  communication,  less  is  left  to  th'e  dis 
cretion  of  naval  officers  abroad,  for  the  Government  -at 
Washington  can  in  most  cases  easily  communicate  with  its 
servants  on  the  national  ships.  In  Fillmore's  day,  much 
had  to  be  entrusted  to  the  judgment  of  the  commanders,  , 
selected  for  the  varied  tasks.  Many  were  the  independent 
actions  of  our  captains  in  matters  diplomatic  and  military 
in  those  days.  It  was  of  vital  importance,  that  in  every 
case  the  right  man  should  be  placed  on  the  right  deck. 

With  characteristic  energy,  Secretary  Graham,  a  man  of 
enterprise  and  initiative,  rose  to  the  occasion.  With  un 
precedented  naval  resources  at  his  command,  he  improved 
his  splendid  opportunities.  He  chose  Captain  Matthew 
Calbraith  Perry  then  in  the  full  momentum  of  his  pro 
fessional  career,  for  the  Japan  Expedition.  Perry  was  one 
of  the  foremost  men  of  intellect  and  science  in  the  navy. 
In  knowledge  of  men  and  of  nations,  in  mastery  of  pro 
fessional  details,  in  diplomatic  ingenuity,  in  power  of 
adaptation,  Perry  had  no  superior  in  the  Uniled  States 
naval  service,  then  so  rich  in  striking  personalities.  Both 
war  steamers  and  guns  firing  shell  were  at  this  time  com 
paratively  novel.  Though  many  naval  officers  felt  nervous 
when  over  a  boiler,  Perry  had  long  before  made  himself  at 
home  wittrbothFsteam  and  bombs. 

Not  so  captivating  to  the  popular  imagination,  but  none 
the  less  prophetic  of  American  mastery  of  ship  architecture, 
of  floating  fortresses  and  of  ocean  problems,  were  the 
naval  inventions  and  adaptations  during  the  Fillmore  ad 
ministration,  when  progress  was  made  with  men  as  well  as 
with  ships.  The  Japan  Expedition  under  Perry,  the  first 
American  fleet  of  jwar-ships  ever  sent  abroad — using  the 

91 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

.term  fleet  as  meaning  at  least  twelve  vessels — went  round 
the  world  without  either  flogging,  or,  in  its  later  course, 
at  least,  the  grog  ration.  This  abolition  of  the  twin  relics 
of  barbarism,  the  cat  and  the  tot,  grew  out  of  the  advance 
made  in  morals  and  humanity  and  the  enlarged  naval  ex 
perience  gained  during  the  Mexican  War. 

Flogging  had  been  introduced  into  the  American  navy  in 
1799,  when  the  "  cat  of  nine  tails"  — "  no  other  cat  being 
allowed  "—was  made  the  legal  instrument  of  punishment. 
During  the  fierce  debate  of  1850,  in  Congress,  over  the 
abolition  of  external  and  internal  stimulants — flogging  and 
the  grog  ration — opposition  was  especially  strong  in  the 
Senate.  Despite  Commodore  Stockton's  powerful  plea 
against  the  disuse  of  the  whip,  the  vote  was  carried  and  the 
use  of  at  least  two  forms  of  discipline,  so  liable  to  abuse, 
ceased  in  the  naval  service.  This  example  was  followed, 
next  year,  in  the  army.  Perry  was  one  of  the  first  temper 
ance  reformers  in  the  Navy.  While  lieutenant,  in  a  letter 
to  the  Navy  Department  dated  January  25th,  1824,  he  had 
endeavored  to  stop  the  grog  ration  for  minors,  for  liquor 
was  in  those  early  days  served  to  boys  as  well  as  to  men. 

All  other  events,  the  attempted  survey  of  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  the  Franklin  Relief  Expedition,  the  exploration 
of  the  Jordan  valley,  of  Bering's  Strait,  and  of  the  Amazon 
river  from  source  to  sea,  and  the  thrilling  incidents  of  Arc 
tic  and  Tropical  research  inaugurated  and,  for  the  most 
part,  carried  out  during  Fillmore's  administration,  paled 
before  the  success  of  Perry's  Japan  Expedition.  This 
event  affected  the  whole  world's  welfare  and  determined 
American  policy  on  the  Pacific  and  in  Asia.  It  affected  the 
world  at  large  more  than  any  American  event  since  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  July  4,  1776. 

The  whale  was  our  first  pilot  to  Japan.  This  "  economic 
animal ' '  was  hunted  for  its  blubber  from  the  Atlantic  into 
the  Pacific  and  beyond  Bering's  Strait,  within  the  Arctic 

92 


OUR  FLAG  IN  EVERY  SEA 

ocean,  by  hundreds  of  American  sailors.  Through  storm 
and  shipwreck,  they  found  themselves  more  or  less  unwill 
ing  guests  in  Japan.  This  Asian  Euxine,  self-called  "  the 
Hospitable  Country,"  was  then  a  byword  among  sea- farers 
and  nigh  unto  cursing  for  its  inhospitality.  In  1850, 
twenty  millions  of  dollars  were  invested  in  the  New  Bedford 
whaling  industry.  The  assembling,  departure  and  return 
of  the  whaling  fleet  made  some  of  the  most  impressive  sights 
in  Yankee  land. 

The  irritation  of  the  American  Nimrods  of  the  sea  kept 
increasing,  because  their  base  of  supply  and  of  action  were 
so  far  apart.  Compelled  to  remain  to  refit  in  Hawaiian 
ports,  so  distant  from  their  field  of  activities,  their  anger 
flamed  at  the  inhospitality  of  the  forbidden  land. 

In  1851,  no  fewer  than  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  Ameri 
can  whalers  lay  in  Hawaiian  ports,  far  from  their  cruising 
grounds,  because  they  could  obtain  no  shelter  in  the  ports 
of  Japan.  The  U.  S.  Brig  Preble  arrived  in  New  York, 
after  a  long  cruise  of  four  years,  with  American  ship 
wrecked  sailors,  who  had  been  kept  seventeen  months  in 
"  cages  "  though  this  was  the  native  method  of  transporting 
and  holding  all  incarcerated  persons.  "  No  prison  strong 
enough  to  hold  them  "  was  the  Japanese  opinion  of  these 
waifs — many  of  them  mutineers  from  their  own  officers. 
Some  of  these  seamen  were  very  lively  and  mischievous. 

Highly  colored  versions  of  Commodore  Glyn's  "  rescue  " 
of  these  men,  after  driving  his  ten-gun  brig  past  "  batteries 
of  sixty  guns  on  the  heights"  and  of  his  dramatic  appear 
ance,  directly  before  the  city  of  Nagasaki,  were  printed  in- 
the  newspapers.  When  examined  in  the  light  of  the  easily 
accessible  and  printed  records  of  the  Navy  Department,  the 
whole  affair,  without  reflecting  the  slightest  discredit  on  a 
gallant  officer,  is  a  powerful  argument  for  peace  by  arbitra 
tion.  As  a  precedent  for  aggressive  war,  or  even  bluster, 
the  Nagasaki  incident  is  beneath  contempt.  Not  the  brave 

93 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

officer's  own  report  but  the  newspapers  stories  of  Glyn's 
1 '  overawing  ' '  the  Japanese  local  governor,  of  his  demand 
for  the  release,  of  the  imprisoned  sailors,  of  his  alleged 
coercion  of  the  Japanese,  and  of  his  ' '  setting  a  mark  for 
Perry  and  Dewey  ",  seems  rather  like  stage  thunder,  or  a 
cheap  photo-play,  if  the  part  of  Mr.  Levyssohn,  the  benevo 
lent  Dutch  agent  at  Nagasaki,  is  left  out. 

As  a  peacemaker  between  Japanese  and  Americans,  this 
Dutch  gentleman,  in  a  quiet  way,  helped  both  to  see  eye  to 
eye,  satisfying  honor  and  quickly  settling  a  point  at  issue 
between  civilized  men.  Nevertheless  as  a  garbled  account, 
"cooked  up"  for  the  newspapers,  it  serves  admirably  to 
show  what  mean  fuel  may  serve  to  get  up  a  devastating 
war-fire.  Mr.  Levyssohn,  returning  to  Holland  during  Mr. 
Fillmore's  administration,  met  the  American  minister  at  the 
Hague  and  published  a  little  book  (Bladen  over  Japan) 
which  was  read  in  Japan  by  the  native  interpreters  in 
Perry's  fleet.  In  the  long  list  of  mediators  between  Japan 
and  English-speaking  people,  from  Will  Adams  to  Guido 
Verbeck,  J.  C.  Hepburn,  J.  H.  DeForest,  William  Taft, 
and  Daniel  Crosby  Greene,  Levyssohn  deserves  most  hon 
orable  mention. 


94 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
Fillmore's  Expedition  to  Japan. 

Millard  Fillmore,  the  real  and  executive  author' of  the 
Japan  Expedition  of  1852,  liberated  a  great  stored-up  force 
in  Asia,  for  the  good  of  the  world.  He  helped  to  bring  be 
fore  the  American  people  a  social  and  racial  problem,  that 
is  destined  to  shake  the  world.  The  "  white  man  "  must 
now  descend  from  his  self-exalted  throne  to  consider  the 
claims  of  the  intellectual  equality  of  Asiatic  men  of  color. 
The  American,  spoiled  by  the  experience  of  red  and  black 
men — the  conquered  and  enslaved — has,  very  naturally, 
considered  the  people  of  Asia  inferior,  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Now,  he  is  compelled  by  the  men  from  the  Mother-contin 
ent  to  think,  study,  read  history  and  acquaint  himself  with 
much  of  which  he  is  ignorant.  Neither  bluster  nor  conceit 
can  occult  the  facts. 

Happily  between  the  so-called  Occident,  which  is  our 
Modern  Hast,  and  the  Orient,  which  is  our  contemporaneous 
West,  it  has  pleased  Providence  to  place  the  United  States, 
one  of  the  greatest  crucibles  and  melting  pots  known  in 
history,  and  Japan — the  epitome  and  deposit  of  all  Asia  and 
the  welcomer  of  things  Occidental — between  the  ancestral 
lands  of  Europe  and  the  older  seats  of  civilization  in  Asia. 
The  problem  set  before  both  countries  is  the  union  and 
reconciliation  of  the  East  and  the  West,  the  Old  and  the 
New,  and  for  this  work,  both  nations  are  admirably  fitted. 
The  American  people  is  a  composite  of  many  races.  The 
Japanese  are  made  up  of  four  of  the  strong  races  of  history, 
Aryan,  Semitic,  Malay  and  Tartar. 

It  is  a  common  superstition,  growing  out  of  the  colossal 
conceit  of  the  average  American,  that  Commodore  Perry 
virtually  created  the  New  Japan.  The  scholar  knows  that 
the  naval  officer  simply  touched  the  electric  button  that  set 
the  interior  machinery  going. 

95 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

All  American  or  other  attempts  to  unbar  the  gates  of 
hermit  Japan  would  have  been  in  vain,  except  for  the 
previous  native  intellectual  preparation  of  a  century  or 
more.  The  new  mind,  created  within,  insured  the  Ameri 
can  Commodore's  success  far  more  than  his  ships,  cannon, 
or  personal  diplomacy. 

This  century-old  internal  movement  of  philosophy,  his 
tory  and  scholarship,  to  say  nothing  of  the  political  martyr 
dom  of  far-seeing  spirits,  called  "  Dutch  students",  looked 
to  the  exaltation  of  Japan  to  her  true  place  of  equality 
among  civilized  nations.  These  were  definitely  committed 
to  the  policy  of  foreign  intercourse,  and  this  party  was 
Perry's  true  ally.  Vulgar  American  conceit  will  probably 
long  ascribe  Japan's  awakening  wholly  to  the  apparition  of 
the  American  ships  ;  but,  all  research  shows  that  Japan 
was  reformed  by  native  more  than  by  foreign  genius. 
That  Perry  acted  with  consummate  skill  and  address,  can 
not  be  doubted,  even  as  we  have  already  told  in  his  biog 
raphy,  and  in  our  writings  of  forty  years.* 

Secretary  William  Graham  was  the  first  person  in  an 
dfficial  position,  who,  if  authorized  to  do  anything  in  pro 
motion  of  the  Japan  enterprise,  was  able  to  act.  In  his 
report,  which  the  President  transmitted  with  his  message 
to  Congress,  in  December  1850,  Graham  called  the  atten 
tion  of  the  Government  to  the  advantages  of  opening 
Japan.  Mr.  Fillmore  warmly  seconded  the  proposal  and 
Japan  received  mention,  for  the  first  time,  in  a  presidential 
document.  In  Mr.  Fillmore's  third  annual  message,  Dec. 
6,  1852,  a  handsome  tribute  is  paid  to  the  friendly  assist 
ance  of  the  Dutch  King  William  II,  who  in  1845, 


*The  Mikado's  Empire,  1876-1912  ;  Japan  :  in  History,  Folk-lore 
and  Art,  1898  ;  Matthew  Calbraith  Perry,  Boston,  1887  ;  The  Japanese 
Nation  in  Evolution,  New  York,  1907  ;  and  the  biographies  of  the 
four  great  American  teachers,  Verbeck,  Brown,  Williams,  Hepburn, 
•who  first  mastered  the  Japanese  language  made  the  apparatus  of 
study,  and  gave  a  total  service  to  Japan  (1859-1911)  of  over  150  years. 

96 


FILLMOR&S  EXPEDITION  TO  JAPAN 

earnestly  advised  the  Shogun  in  Yedo,  to  open  Japan's 
doors  peacefully  to  the  Americans.  Millard  Fillmore  was 
thus  in  advance  of  the  average  American  citizen  and  mag 
istrate  of  his  day,  with  whom  generosity  in  awarding  credit 
to  Europeans  was  not  conspicuous.  The  President's  orders 
to  Perry  meant  firmness  without  concealment  of  the  true 
objects, — rescue,  fuel,  commerce,  the  enrichment  of  Cali 
fornia  and  America,  and  the  future  prosperity  and  peaceful 
opening  of  an  Asiatic  state. 

This  proposal  to  invite  an  Oriental  Empire  to  enter  into 
the  world's  market  place,  excited  great  attention  in  Europe. 
Great  Britain  had  led  hitherto  in  playing  the  role  of  Ali 
Baba.  The  sight  of  a  young  nation,  of  like  speech  and 
ideas,  attempting  to  imitate  and  even  surpass  the  pioneer, 
awakened  the  keenest  interest  of  the  London  journals. 
Punch  and  his  corps  of  rhymesmiths  and  the  makers  of 
jokes  in  prose  and  verse,  kept  themselves  busy  in  diffusing 
good  humor.  They  were  somewhat  less  flippant,  and  fully 
as  intelligent,  in  treating  the  whole  subject  as  were  most 
of  the  American  newspapers  of  1852. 

Kossuth  and  Japan  were  rival  subjects  for  editorial  pens. 
Some  newspapers  clamored  that  our  "  fleet  "  should  go  to 
Austria,  instead  of  Japan.  With  the  exception  however, 
of  one  or  two  of  Kossuth's  "  penny  organs,"  the  expedi 
tion  to  the  Orient  was  approved.  One  Manhattan  literary 
volcano  threw  out  this  literary  scoria  :  "In  these  days 
nothing  but  bombshells  and  bayonets  will  reclaim  the 
pagans  of  Japan.  Let  the  gallant  Commodore  hurry  up 
the  good  work.  Brethren  let  us  pray.  .  .  .  Our  aggres 
sions  and  conquests  of  the  Pacific  coast  are  beginning. 
Sooner  or  later  these  besotted  Oriental  nations  must  come 
out  from  their  barbarous  seclusion  and  wheel  into  the 
ranks  of  civilization.  .  .  Like  the  English  in  India,  let 
us  take  the  Pacific  Islands,  group  by  group,  advance  to 
Japan  and  meet  in  Shanghai.  The  Anglo-Saxons  are 

7  97 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

masters  of  the  world."  In  this  rhetoric,  the  same  deviltry 
that  still  animates  alike  the  pirate,  the  burglar,  and  some 
editors,  was  as  rampant  then  as  now. 

The  novelty  of  conditions,  following  on  the  heels  of  the 
deceitful  prosperity  induced  by  successful  war,  intoxicated 
journalists.  With  fifteen  hundred  weekly  newspapers  and 
twenty  thousand  miles  of  electric  wires,  our  people  had  no 
lack  of  excitement.  "  What  would  it  be,"  said  one,  "  to 
hear  of  a  great  American  naval  victory  off  the  coast  of 
Japan  ten  days  before  election  !  "  It  is  both  amusing  and 
tragic  to  see  how  wars  are  gotten  up  by  interested  parties 
and  then  covered  with  the  American  flag. 

English  newspapers  spoke  of  "  the  mysterious  naval  ex 
pedition  to  the  Asiatic  seas."  "The  great  Atlantic  Re 
public  was  about  to  come  into  collision  with  the  Empire  of 
Japan."  The  story  of  the  greatly  exaggerated  "  Amboyna 
massacre,"  by  Dutch  and  Japanese,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  which  had  served  Charles  Stuart  and  his  perfidious 
ministers  and  the  piratical  Duke  of  York,  in  1664,  to 
manufacture  public  opinion  among  Englishmen  and 
Yankees,  for  the  conquest  of  New  Netherland  was  revived. 
Now,  made  to  do  duty  again,  it  served  for  more  or  less  in 
telligent  British  editorial  comment. 

English  editors  recalled  that  "Japanese  were  once 
employed  as  sepoys  (sic)  in  peninsular  Asia."  Japan  was 
described  as  having  an  area  of  266,000  square  miles  and 
a  population  of  30,000,000  souls — both  statements  being 
exaggerations.  Arm-chair  strategists  warned  the  Com 
modore  that  the  Japanese  were  assailable  by  their  coasts 
alone.  There  were  no  great  rivers  in  Japan,  by  which  in 
vaders  could  penetrate  the  country.  '  The  redress 
squadron"  must  not  quit  its  wooden  walls,  behind  which 
the  Americans  were  impregnable.  To  advance  inward 
would  mean  inevitable  perdition. 

Funniest  of  all  was   Punch's  poem,  on   "The  American 

98 


FILLMOR&S  EXPEDITION   TO  JAPAN 

Crusaders",  expressed   in  what  was  supposed   to   be   the 
American-English  language. 

"  We  histes  the  stars  and  stripes 
To  go  agin  Japan, 
All  to  protect  our  mariners 
The  gallant  Perry  sails, 
Our  free  enlightened  citizens 
A-cruisin'  arter  whales 
Who  being  tossed  upon  their  shores 
By  stormy  winds  and  seas, 
Is  wuss  than  niggers  used  by  them 
Tarnation  Japanese. 

We  shant  sing  out  to  pattern  saints 

Nor  gals,  afore  we  fights, 

Like  when  they  charged  the  Saracens, 

Did  them  benighted  knights, 

But  ' '  Exports  to  the  resky,  ho  ' ' 

And  "  Imports  "  we  will  cry,* 

And  pitch  the  shell  or  draw  the  bead 

Upon  the  enemy. 

We'll  teach  them  unsocial  coons 

Exclusiveness  to  drop, 

And  stick  the  hand  of  welcome  out 

And  open  wide  their  shop  ; 

And  fust  I  hope  we  shant  be  forced 

To  whip  'em  into  fits, 

And  chew  the  savage  loafers  right 

Up  into  little  bits. ' ' 

The  day  of  seventy-four  gun-ships,  when  the  efficacy  of 
a  fleet  depended  upon  the  number  of  its  holes  in  the  hull 
had  passed;  but,  as  Punch  said,  "  Perry  must  open  the 
Japanese  ports,  even  if  he  had  to  open  his  own."  The 
United  States  ' '  were  now  to  enact  the  same  gunpowder 
drama  that  England  had  played  in  China  ",  etc.,  etc. 

From  our  side,  the  causes  of  the  Japan  expedition  were 
the  whale,  coal,  California,  the  return  of  native  waifs,  the 
rescue  of  American  sailors,  commerce,  Christianity,  and  the 

99 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

desire  to  spread  American  ideas.  Back  of  these  were  the 
John  Quincy  Adams  resolution  of  1819,  the  Monroe  Doc 
trine,  and  the  eloquence  of  William  H.  Seward.  More  than 
all  else  were  the  prayers  of  Christian  people  begun  long 
before. 

On  the  Japanese  side,  were  the  revival  of  learning,  the 
native  scholars  in  the  Dutch  language,  the  schools  of  un 
orthodox  and  especially  the  Oyomei  philosophy,  critical 
history,  with  other  interior  preparations,  conscious  or  un 
conscious.  Thanks  to  the  self-exiled  teacher,  Ronald  Mc 
Donald,  who  began  at  Nagasaki,  in  1846,  to  teach  English, 
a  score  of  Japanese  could  read  and  talk  English,  before 
Americans  or  British  could  talk,  or  peruse  a  book  in 
Japanese.  No  English-speaking  person,  in  1853,  could  read 
a  Japanese  book  of  the  first  class.  Dr.  Samuel  Wells 
Williams,  of  Canton,  China,  from  seawaifs  and  fisherman 
had  learned  a  little  of  the  Nippon  colloquial  and  could 
understand  Chinese  texts  and  a  few  easy  printed  Japanese 
books. 

At  Kurihama,  where  now  the  gold-lettered  granite  me 
morial  shaft,  inscribed  by  Ito  and  subscribed  to  by  Multsu- 
hito  the  Great,  rises  in  Perry  Park,  our  Commodore  had  a 
discussion  about  morals  with  Professor  Hayashi  of  Yedo, 
but  the  best  points  in  the  treaty  of  Yokohama,  in  1853, 
were  suggested  by  the  missionary,  Dr.  S.  Wells  Williams. 
Perry  won,  only  in  ethical  and  social  matters.  The  subject 
of  American  trade  or  residence  in  the  Mikado's  Empire  was 
not  even  mentioned.  This  latter  triumph  in  diplomacy  was 
not  gained,  until  a  few  years  later  by  the  New  York  mer 
chant,  Townsend  Harris.  Building  on  Perry's  precedents, 
but  without  a  gun,  a  ship,  or  a  man,  but  telling  always  the 
truth,  he  routed  the  liars  in  the  pay  of  a  rotten  system  of 
deceit,  and  won  all  his  points,  as  has  been  shown  in  his 
biography.  Not,  however,  until  1868,  did  the  treaties  bear 
the  signature  of  the  Mikado,  or  true  emperor. 

100 


FILLMOR&S  EXPEDITION  TQ 

The  political  situations  of  the  Americans  and  the  Jap 
anese,  in  1850,  when  compared,  show  striking  analogies. 
Divided  Japan,  under  the  feudal  regime  was  relatively  much 
like  the  contemporaneous  American  Union,  which  in  one- 
half,  the  South,  held  to  a  sort  of  belated  feudalism,  and  on 
the  whole  was  a  federal,  but  hardly  a  national,  republic. 
In  both  countries,  the  old  order  was  about  to  pass  away, 
and  a  new  world  of  ideas  and  institutions — as  yet  discerned 
only  by  men  of  prophetic  vision — was  dawning.  To  those 
who  could  see  the  new  day  coming,  the  morning  sky  was 
already  flaming.  Both  nations  were  on  the  eve  of  a  tre 
mendous  upheaval,  which  was  to  alter  the  map  of  the  world. 
In  the  American  Union  were  twenty-five  millions  of  freemen 
and  three  millions  of  slaves.  Of  Japan's  twenty-eight 
millions,  twenty-four  millions  were  semi-serfs,  and  one 
million  were  outcasts.  The  "balance  of  power"  in 
America,  until  California  obtained  statehood,  was  between 
free  and  slave  states.  In  Japan,  it  was  between  the  Mikado 
and  Shogun.  In  the  United  States,  the  notions  of  ten 
million  living  in  semi-feudalism,  on  slave  land,  were 
medieval.  A  man  in  the  sectional  republic  was  less  an 
American,  than  a  Mississippian  or  a  Vermonter.  The  cen 
tral  Government  was  weak.  The  idea  of  loyalty  to  his 
State,  and  not  to  the  Nation,  dominated  the  mind  of  the 
Southerner.  So,  also,  in  Japan,  it  was  the  clan  or  province, 
not  the  Empire.  A  native  was  a  Satsuma  man,  or  an  Aidzu 
retainer,  rather  than  a  Japanese.  Localism  and  sectional 
ism  were  the  ruling  ideas  in  both  countries.  In  the  Jap 
anese  archipelago  the  South  was  progressive,  the  North 
conservative,  even  to  reaction. 

In  both  lands,  good  men  must  suffer  and  fall  with  the 
vicious  systems  whose  destruction  was  to  open  new  vistas 
to  white,  black,  and  brown  humanity.  A  military  despo 
tism  in  Yedo  and  rival  clans  in  the  sections  dominated  the 
land,  but  an  approaching  economic  struggle,  not  essentially 

101 


;-:$4*  MILLARD  FILL  MORE 

different  from  that  between  the  industrial  North  and  the 
agricultural  South,  in  America,  was  for  Japan  "the  im 
pending  crisis  ".  Steadily  the  central  government  in  Yedo 
was  weakening  and  the  local  powers  were  increasing.  In 
the  civil  wars,  of  1861  and  1868,  following  long  contro 
versies,  local  ties  often  bound  a  man,  even  against  his 
conscience,  to  take  up  arms  with  his  fellow  clansmen  or 
neighbors,  against  the  central  Government. 

Both  nations,  after  a  bloody  civil  war,  were  to  have  "  a 
new  birth  of  freedom'';  for  in  neither  country,  now,  does 
slavery,  serfage,  or  pariahism  exist.  With  the  names  of 
Lincoln  and  of  Mutsuhito,  in  the  same  list  of  emancipators, 
both  nations  are  now  in  the  van  of  freedom  and  equally 
eager  for  the  advance  of  civilization.  In  the  hall  of  fame, 
wherein  shine  the  names  of  those  who  have  helped  to  unite 
the  Orient  and  the  Occident,  that  of  Millard  Fillmore  holds 
a  shining  place. 

In  December,  1873,  the  ex- President,  addressing  the 
Buffalo  Historical  Society,  on  the  Japan  Expedition  of  1853, 
declared  that  the  facts  concerning  shipwrecked  American 
sailors  on  the  coasts  of  Japan  were  presented  in  the  Cabinet 
meeting.  ' '  All  the  resolutions  adopted  were  in  full  Cabinet 
council,  in  which  there  was  no  difference  of  opinion  but 
the  fullest  accord".  Fillmore's  orders  were  peremptory 
to  Commodore  Perry,  to  use  no  violence  unless  he  were 
attacked.  He  despatched  sufficient  force,  so  that  the  show 
of  power  might  be  deemed  a  persuader  in  procuring  a 
treaty.  He  fully  justified  his  order  to  Perry  commanding 
him  to  defend  himself  against  violence.  The  Commodore 
was  cautioned  against  doing  anything  offensive,  but  he  was 
fully  authorized,  in  the  event  of  being  attacked  by  the 
Japanese — as  contrasted  with  the  peremptory  orders  of  non- 
resistance,  given  to  Commodore  Biddle — to  use  the  power 
of  the  Government  in  repelling  hostilities  and  to  satisfy  the 
jealous  islanders  that  they  were  dealing  with  a  Power  com 
petent  and  willing  to  protect  its  own. 

102 


FILLMORE' S  EXPEDITION  TO  JAPAN 

In  a  word,  the  Japanese  did  not  seek  us.  We  sought 
them,  and,  almost  by  main  force,  dragged  them  out  of 
their  seclusion,  in  order  to  win  their  trade  and  enrich  Cali 
fornia  and  the  United  States.  After  we  had  taken  their 
gold  out  of  the  country,  and  as  soon  as  we  gained  their 
secrets,  of  tea,  silk,  ceramics,  and  what  not,  we  built  up 
tariffs  against  them.  Then,  when  they  had  shown  them 
selves  not  "yellow  monkeys",  or  anthropological  curiosi 
ties,  but  real  men,  bred  in  a  civilization  worthy  of  all 
respect  and  able  to  humble  Russia,  American  sentiment 
changed.  The  unintelligent  mob,  the  selfish  manufacturer 
and  land  owner  and  the  labor  unions  that  raise  the  shout 
v<  America  for  Americans  " — in  foreign  accents — are  quite 
ready  even  to  violate  treaties,  in  order  to  keep  out  these 
temperate  and  industrious  people.  Even  in  certain  quar 
ters  where  commercial  varieties  of  Christianity  rule,  these 
people  are  quite  approved,  when  reckoned  as  objects  of 
trade,  or  as  missionary  converts,  but  rejected  when  practical 
brotherhood  is  proposed. 

It  is  well  to  recall,  in  this  twentieth  century,  the  kindly 
and  sincere  words  of  our  President  Millard  Fillmore  to 
"  His  Imperial  Majesty,  the  Emperor  of  Japan,"  in  1852. 

"  Great  and  good  friend.  .  .  I  entertain  the  kindest 
feelings  towards  your  majesty's  person  and  government, 
and  ...  I  have  no  other  object  in  sending  .  .  .  to  Japan, 
but  to  propose  to  your  imperial  majesty  that  the  United 
States  and  Japan  should  live  in  friendship  and  have  com 
mercial  intercourse  with  each  other.  .  .  May  the  Almighty 
have  your  imperial  majesty  in  His  great  and  holy  keeping." 

These  are  Fillmore' s  own  words,  given  in  all  sincerity 
and  truth.  In  their  spirit,  Perry,  Harris,  Seward,  Lincoln 
and  the  great  army  of  teachers,  advisers  and  helpers  in 
government  service  in  Japan  and  the  servants  of  the 
Japanese,  for  Christ's  sake,  the  missionaries,  from  1859  to 
the  present  hour,  have  lived  and  acted.  Will  Americans 
reverse  this  noble  record  ?  Shall  they  not  rather  live  up 
to  the  spirit  of  their  first  motives  and  of  the  early  treaties  ? 

103 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
The  Monroe  Doctrine  and  the  Filibusters. 

No  doctrine  is  safe  from  caricature  at  the  hands  of  its 
interpreters,  or  from  distortion  in  the  lives  of  its  exemplars. 
Kven  divine  truth  becomes  impish  folly  in  the  hands  of 
men.  Man  and  the  ape  are  scarcely  wider  apart  than  are 
reality  and  its  counterfeits.  In  American  history  the 
Monre  Doctrine,  created  when  Britain  and  America  struck 
hands  together  for  freedom,  grandly  conceived,  gloriously 
illustrated,  destined  in  the  end,  doubtless,  to  win  the  re 
spect  and  even  the  praise  of  humanity,  has  suffered  in  this 
way.  More  than  once  the  filibuster,  the  unscrupulous 
money-maker,  or  the  disguised  robber,  who  calls  himself  a 
colonist,  has  made  it  the  world's  laughingstock. 

In  Fillmore's  day  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  made  yoke 
fellow  with  both  "manifest  destiny"  and  the  fanaticism 
of  slavery  propagation.  The  resultant  was  a  three- fold 
storm.  The  enormous  territory  wrested  from  Mexico 
bloated  the  pride  of  those  who  had  provoked  that  war  for 
an  avowed  purpose.  Misgovernment  in  Cuba  and  the 
West  Indian  states  offered  a  field  of  enterprise  alluring  to 
the  filibuster,  as  tempting  as  it  was  boundless. 

The  cool-headed  and  calculating  men,  ready  to  exploit 
any  rich  laud  for  the  sake  of  its  wealth,  stayed  at  home, 
making  tools  of  others,  who  had  puritanical  notions  of 
".God-given  rights  to  white  men"  and  the  "divine 
service"  of  extending  black  slavery.  The  ancient  trade 
of  Cortez  and  Pizarro,  and  of  the  British  buccaneers, 
Morgan  and  James,  Duke  of  York,  was  continued,  in  true 
succession,  in  sub-tropical  America,  by  such  men  as 
Quitman,  Lopez  and  Walker.  At  those  who  carried  on 
their  activities  during  Fillmore's  administration,  we  shall 
glance. 

104 


MONROE  DOCTRINE  AND  THE  FILIBUSTERS 

Cuba  was  the  coveted  object  of  American  greed.  In  the 
tempestuous  oratory  of  this  era,  the  conquests  of  Moses, 
Joshua,  Saul  and  David  were  cited  as  inspiring  examples  of 
the  successful  marauder. 

The  triumph,  in  Texas,  of  a  raid  of  filibusters,  disguised 
under  the  name  of  colonists,  gave  the  great  precedent  of 
success.  Then  in  1840-1848,  all  parties  agreeing,  Mexico 
was  invaded  and  despoiled.  The  idea  underlying  this  war 
of  rapine  became  a  breeding  ground  for  filibustering  expe 
ditions.  These  were  notably  numerous  from  1850  to  1861. 

Of  about  the  same  area,  each  with  an  amazingly  fertile 
soil,  and  in  nearly  the  same- latitude,  though  almost  antipo 
dal  on  the  earth's  surface,  and  both  under  foreign  masters, 
Cuba  and  Java  afforded  a  striking  contrast.  Under  en 
lightened  rulers,  just  laws,  and  wise  economical  measures, 
over  thirty  millions  of  Javanese  live  in  peaceful  content  and 
thriving  prosperity.  In  Cuba,  under  governors,  who  were 
but  belated  conquestadors,  and  a  rule  of  injustice,  cruelty, 
torture  and  bloodshed,  with  much  of  the  land  lying  waste, 
scarcely  two  million  human  beings  were  able  to  exist.  The 
apostles  of  slavery  in  the  United  States,  who  wished  to  ex 
tend  the  area  of  what  was  then  preached  as  a  divine  "  insti 
tution,"  had  therefore  a  showy  and  plausible  pretext. 
With  this  they  disguised  other  and  more  selfish  motives, 
when  resolving  to  possess  the  "  Pearl  of  the  Antilles." 

On  his  own  initiative  and  without  the  knowledge  of  Con 
gress,  President  Polk  had,  in  1848,  instructed  the  American 
minister  in  Spain  to  offer  $100,000,000  for  Cuba.  The 
offer  was  curtly  and  promptly  rejected,  without  thanks. 
About  the  same  time,  Narciso  lyOpez,  living  in  the  island, 
had  turned  to  the  usual  recourse  of  the  soldier  of  fortune 
and  become  a  revolutionist.  President  Taylor  checkmated 
his  first  attempt  at  invasion,  but  by  May,  1850,  having 
gathered  610  men  in  New  Orleans,  under  his  banner,  he 
slipped  away  in  the  steamer  Creole.  He  landed  in  Cuba, 
but  met  with  no  support  and  came  ingloriously  away. 

105 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

These  were  the  days  when  undrained  Havana,  glittering 
even  in  her  filth,  furnished  almost  an  annual  epidemic  of 
cholera,  or  yellow  fever,  to  the  United  States,  which  repaid 
the  island  with  piratical  expeditions  in  the  interests  of 
slavery  extension. 

President  Fillmore's  proclamation  against  another  attempt 
of  the  same  sort  made  by  Lopez,  in  the  steamer  Pampero, 
is  dated  April  25th,  1851.  Sending  two  men-of-war  to  the 
Cuban  coast  to  intercept  the  invaders,  he  issued  new  powers 
to  the  collectors  and  marshals  at  all  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
ports,  enjoining  vigilance  also  upon  the  district  attorneys 
at  these  places.  All  United  States  officers  absent  from 
home  were  ordered  to  return  and  prevent  expeditions  from 
being  fitted  out.  Orders  were  given  to  the  Army  and  Navy, 
wherever  there  were  troops  or  vessels,  to  be  ready  for 
service. 

From  May  i3th  to  2ist,  the  President  and  his  Cabinet 
were  in  New  York  State  attending  the  formal  opening  of 
the  Erie  Railroad,  which  connected  the  great  lakes  with  the 
ocean. 

Lopez  had  collected  in  Louisiana  about  six  hundred  men 
and  boys,  many  of  them  of  good  family,  promising  each  one 
of  them  five  thousand  dollars  apiece.  This  sum  was  to  be 
paid  when  the  Cuban  plantations  had  been  seized  and  the 
financial  basis  found  for  the  "bonds  of  the  Cuban  Re 
public."  Costing  from  three  to  twenty  cents  on  a  dollar, 
these  products  of  the  printing  press  appealed  to  the  specu 
lative  instinct,  and  many  Americans  invested  in  the  promised 
castles  in  New  Spain.  Cubans  in  the  United  States  led  the 
ignorant  and  necessitous  to  enlist,  but  they  themselves  kept 
at  home.  Those  who  sent  the  ships  and  printed  the  bonds 
hoped  that  their  copper  mite  would  come  back  into  their 
pockets  as  gold  unalloyed. 

The  command  of  this  expedition  was  offered  first  to 
Jefferson  Davis  and  then  to  Capt.  Robert  E.  Lee,  U.  S.  A. 

106 


MONROE  DOCTRINE  AND  THE  FILIBUSTERS 

Declined  by  both,  it  was  given  by  designing  politicans  and 
professional  war-makers  to  Lopez,  who  had  already  sunk 
all  his  means  in  two  previous  attempts.  New  Orleans  was 
full  of  adventurers  to  choose  from  and  the  complement  was 
easily  made  up.  Most  of  those  who  enlisted  were  boys. 
The  ship  would  hold  no  more.  Crittenden,  the  commander, 
next  to  Lopez,  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  who  had  re 
signed  his  colonelcy  in  the  army  to  lead  this  motley  band, 
which  sailed  in  the  steamer  Pampero,  August  3,  1851. 

Four  thousand  Spanish  troops  garrisoned  Cuba.  Triese 
watchdogs  of  war  had  teeth  to  bite  with.  It  would  be  no 
child's  play  to  face  their  fire. 

President  Fillmore  had  planned  to  get  a  few  days  of  sum 
mer  rest  at  the  White  Sulphur  Springs,  in  Virginia,  hoping 
to  return  to  Washington  on  August  3oth.  The  Lopez  ex 
pedition  broke  up  his  plans,  and  he  returned  in  haste  to 
his  dfesk.  The  cabinet  was  scattered,  but  he  ordered  the 
war-ship  Saranac  to  Havana,  to  inquire  into  the  facts,  re 
moved  the  federal  officer  at  New  Orleans,  and  wrote,  both 
confidentially  and  officially,  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  then 
at  his  home  in  Marshfield,  Mass.  The  gist  of  the  Presi 
dent's  directions  was — "  Follow  Washington's  example,  as 
in  the  case  of  France."  Not  having  yet  heard  as  to  the 
whereabouts  of  the  Pampero,  he  left  for  the  north  and 
spent  six  days,  from  September  i6th  to  22nd  in  New 
England,  with  two  members  of  his  cabinet,  Conrad  and 
Stuart. 

The  story  of  the  filibusters  of  1851  is  a  short  one,  for 
their  race  was  quickly  run.  Lopez  landed  fifty  miles 
southwest  of  Havana,  August  i2th,  and  went  forward 
with  325  men  to  Las  Pasas.  Colonel  Crittenden,  with  150 
men,  was  left  to  guard  the  baggage.  Met  by  a  Spanish 
detachment  of  from  five  to  eight  hundred  soldiers,  Lopez 
and  his  forces  were  scattered.  Having  fled  to  the 
mountains,  he  was  taken  and  met  his  death  bravely. 

107 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

Crittenden  and  his  force  were  also  captured.  Of  these, 
fifty  were  ordered  to  execution  and  one  hundred  and  sixty 
two  were  sent  to  Spain  to  forced  labor  in  the  mines.  The 
fifty  Americans  with  Lopez'  following  condemned  to  be 
shot,  were  given  time  and  facilities  to* write  farewells  to 
friends  at  home.  This  opportunity  they  improved  diligent 
ly. 

When  the  vessel  bearing  this  mail  reached  New  Orleans, 
a  rumor  flew  round  the  city  that  the  letters  had  been  de 
tained  at  the  Spanish  consulate.  A  mob  collected,  stormed 
the  building,  smashed  the  furniture  and  tore  into  strips 
both  the  Spanish  flag  and  portraits  of  Spain's  sovereign, 
thus  adding  one  more  blot  to  America's  fame  as  a  land  of 
law. 

Don  A.  Calderon  de  la  Barca,  the  Spanish  envoy,  made 
complaint,  to  the  United  States  Government,  of  the  insult 
to  his  country  and  asked  for  reparation.  In  a  private 
letter  to  Mr.  Webster,  he  hoped  that  some  public  act  of 
honor  could  be  done  to  the  flag  of  Spain.  The  draft  of 
Mr.  Webster's  reply  was  not  made  ready  until  November 
4th,  and  official  answer  was  delayed  until  November  i3th. 
It  was  a  noble  document,  conciliator}7  and  frank.  In  it  a 
distinction  was  made  between  what  was  governmental  and 
what  personal.  The  Spanish  flag  would  be  saluted  with 
honor  and  apology  and  regrets  be  tendered  to  the  Spanish 
Government ;  but  for  individual  loss  or  damage,  redress 
must  be  sought  according  to  the  usual  procedure  in  the 
courts.  A  handsome  appropriation,  to  renumerate  the 
Spanish  consul  and  his  nationals,  was  promptly  made  by 
Congress,  and  every  promise,  in  the  powder,  ink,  and  money 
of  our  government,  was  fulfilled. 

Anxious  about  the  condition  of  the  misguided  lads  of  the 
Lopez  expedition,  now  at  hard  labor  in  the  mines  of  Spain, 
Mr.  Fillmore  on  November  26th,  1851,  dictated  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Barringer,  our  minister,  asking  the  Government  of  , 

108 


MONROE  DOCTRINE  AND  THE  FILIBUSTERS 

Madrid  for  the  return  of  these  expatriated  Americans.  He 
offered  meanwhile,  in  case  of  their  need  of  suffering,  to 
furnish  food,  clothing,  or  help. 

This  wise  and  tactful  letter  was  well  received  at  Madrid 
and  word  was  soon  received  at  the  State  Department  that 
release  had  been  made.  Ninety  of  the  boys,  who  had  fol 
lowed  Lopez  and  had  found  other  structures  than  castles, 
in  Spain,  were  "repatriated",  landing  in  New  York  in 
February,  1852.  Others  were  returned  later. 

One  good  turn  deserves  another.  This  precedent  was 
fertile  in  later  results.  In  1898,  Cervera  and  his  sailors, 
with  the  Spanish  troops  taken  by  our  army  and  navy,  were 
"  repatriated  "  by  President  McKinley,  who,  in  so  many  of 
his  finer  qualities,  was  like  Fillmore.  Yet  some  of  our 
countrymen,  as  ignorant  as  conceited,  gave  out  this  as  an 
original  American  idea  first  put  into  practice  in  1898. 

Thus  the  thirteenth  President  nobly  saved  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  when  it  was  fast  degenerating  into  filibusterism. 

Europe  was  thrown  into  excitement  by  the  Lopez  raid. 
The  governments  of  France,  Spain,  and  Great  Britain  pre 
pared  a  plan  to  guarantee  Cuba  to  Spain.  They  proposed  - 
it  to  the  United  States  in  all  friendliness,  but  Mr.  Fillmore, 
whose  Americanism  was  ever  sane  and  balanced,  thought 
this  scheme  ill  advised.  "Any  attempts,  to  prevent  such 
expeditions,  by  British  cruisers  must  necessarily  involve  a 
right  of  search  into  our  whole  mercantile  marine  in  those 
seas,  thus  endangering  the  friendly  relations.  ...  It 
might  take  a  few  years,  but  in  the  end,  with  the  encourage 
ment  derived  from  the  free  institutions  of  the  United  States, 
Cuba  would  either  be  free  from  Spanish  rule,  or  annexed 
to  the  United  States". 

For  a  decade  or  more,  the  determination  of  slave  holders 
to  extend  their  domain,  whether  in  Cuba,  Mexico,  or  other 
warm  lands,  or  islands  continued.  Cool-headed  Americans 
wanted  "no  more  ebony  additions  to  the  republic"  and 

109 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

looked  askance  upon  those  ' '  evanescent  republics ' '  which 
filibusters  from  the  United  States,  from  time  to  time,  at 
tempted  to  set  up.  The  political  atmosphere  was  then 
overcharged  with  "  Manifest  Destiny  "  and  out  of  it,  other 
flashes  like  lightning  issued  to  startle  the  world. 

In  1850  there  was  a  Lone  Star  Association,  and  the 
policy  of  a  party,  avowed  in  the  "  manifest  destiny  "  idea, 
was  to  seize  all  of  Mexico  and  the  Spanish  American 
countries,  in  order  to  extend  slavery.  American  imitators 
of  Pizarro  and  Cortez  were  ready  to  "do  God's  will"  as 
they  interpreted  it. 

Two  American  clipper  ships,  the  Gamecock  and  the 
Witch  of  the  Wave,  at  San  Francisco,  sailed  with  300  vol 
unteers  on  board,  in  October,  to  seize,  as  was  supposed, 
the  Sandwich  Islands. 

The  most  famous  of  the  filibustering  expeditions  was 
organized  secretly  during  the  last  days  of  Fillmore's  ad 
ministration,  in  California,  which  was  then  remote  and 
beyond  the  speedy  action  from  Washington.  William 
Walker,  ex-lawyer  and  journalist,  of  Louisiana,  desired  to 
found  an  independent  state,  wherein  slavery  of  the  blacks 
would  be  unrestricted,  and  the  "  God-given  rights  of  the 
white  man"  denied  to  none  possessing  the  orthodox  hue 
of  cuticle.  He  made  Mexico  and  Lower  California  the 
object  of  his  invasion.  With  forty-five  men,  he  landed  at 
Cape  St.  Lucas,  at  the  extreme  point  of  Lower  California. 
Sailing  a  few  miles  further,  he  captured  the  town  of  the 
same  name,  made  the  Governor  a  prisoner  and  established 
a  "  Republic  ",  with  himself  as  President.  He  proclaimed 
the  people  free  of  the  tyranny  of  Mexico.  Whether  they 
liked  it  or  not,  the  natives  were  compelled  to  be  "inde 
pendent"  and  "republican". 

Three  hundred  adventurers  from  all  lands  enlisted  as 
"emigrants,"  and  sailing  in  the  bark  Anita,  from  Cali 
fornia,  reinforced  Walker  in  November,  1852.  Finding 

no 


MONROE  DOCTRINE  AND  THE  FILIBUSTERS 

their  commander  to  be  a  boyish-looking  man  of  thirty-one, 
they  became  insubordinate  and  plotted  against  him.  After 
trying  a  few  ring-leaders  and  shooting  them,  Walker,  with 
fewer  than  one  hundred  followers,  marched  up  the  peninsula, 
in  order  to  Reach  Sonora.  The  Mexicans,  now  roused  to 
wrath,  pursued,  ambuscaded,  shot,  lassoed,  and  tortured 
the  invaders  of  their  soil,  until  Walker  had  but  thirty-five 
men  left.  At  bay,  on  the  border,  they  turned  upon  the 
Mexican  troops,  fired  a  murderous  volley  and  then,  stagger 
ing  across  the  boundary  line,  surrendered  to  the  United 
States  soldiers. 

Years  afterwards,  prowling  Indians  or  peon  herdsmen,  in 
the  mountain  paths,  stumbled  over  bleaching  skeletons 
marked  by  no  cross  or  cairn.  In  each  case  a  rusty  Colt's 
revolver,  beside  the  bones,  bespoke  the  country  and  the 
occupation  of  the  invader. 

Walker  was  tried  at  San  Francisco  and  acquitted.  He 
immediately  began  to  fulfil  his  "mission"  elsewhere.  Of 
his  enterprises  in  Nicaraugua  and  in  Honduras,  where  he 
was  shot  as  a  criminal,  it  is  not  our  province  to  write.  In 
history,  Doubleday  and  Roche,  and  in  fiction,  Davis,  have 
told  the  story  of  the  bold  fanatics.  The  novelist  is  espec 
ially  clever  in  showing  how  revolutions  in  Central  and  South 
America  are  often  engineered  by  capitalists,  usually  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  fill  their  own  purses.  The 
war-makers,  in  the  Land  of  the  Almighty  Dollar,  have  the 
same  object  in  view  as  those  in  haste  to  get  rich  in  all  times 
and  on  all  continents.  If  not  England  or  Germany,  Japan 
must  serve  as  the  occasion  and  means  of  making  money,  by 
embroiling  our  Government  in  war. 

Walker  might  have  "solved  the  problem  of  slavery,  have 
established  an  empire  in  Mexico  and  in  Central  America 
and,  incidentally,  brought  us  into  war  with  all  of  Europe," 
but  like  so  many  old  world  notions,  tried  on  the  soil  of  the 
new  world,  such  devil- work  was  fore-doomed  to  failure. 

in 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

The  attempts  of  Americans  to  perpetuate  the  trade  of  the 
conquestadors,  such  as  Spain  had  sent  out  in  the  sixteenth 
century — as  in  every  similar  enterprise  of  forcing  monarchy 
upon  the  unwilling  peoples  of  the  western  world — were  sure 
to  miscarry.  Whatever  be  the  pretext — "God's  will," 
"the  divine  institution,"  of  slavery,  '*• manifest  destiny," 
"  Anglo-Saxon  ideas  "  or  other  subterfuge — these  outrages 
upon  humanity  do  but  mask  human  cupidity.  If  American 
history  teaches  anything,  it  is  that  our  continent  is  no 
place  in  which  to  revamp  the  wornput  and  rejected  ideas  of 
Europe,  even  when  they  are  conjured  up  under  other  names. 
Our  young  republic  is  no  Abishag  to  keep  moribund 
kings  alive.  If,  in  the  experience  of  humanity,  civilization 
has  cast  aside  certain  methods  of  barbarism,  much  more 
will  the  advancing  race  in  America  demand  loyal  adherence 
to  proved  ideals  of  justice,  while  it  condemns  everything 
that  belongs  to  the  lower  stages  of  evolution.  History  re 
fuses  to  repeat  herself.  In  the  right  interpretation  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine,  "  with  charity  for  all  and  malice  to  none," 
there  are  now  no  Republicans  or  Democrats,  but  only  one 
great  united  American  People.  Gratitude  to  Millard  Fill- 
more  is  our  just  and  joyous  debt.  It  is  for  the  American 
people  to  see  that  neither  foreign  juntas  on  our  soil,  nor 
hot-headed  patriots  or  aliens,  nor  money-makers  anxious 
for  war-contracts,  shall  ever  degrade  this  noble  doctrine  to 
sordid  ends  and  satanic  purposes. 


112 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
National  Honor.    The  Canal  and  the  Treaties. 

The  relations  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
very  severely  strained  during  three  of  the  administrations 
preceding,  were,  during  Mr.  Fillmore's  term  of  office, 
sympathetic  and  friendly. 

Sir  Henry  Bulwer,  the  British  Minister,  author,  and 
older  brother  of  the  famous  novelist,  Bulwer-Lytton,  came 
to  Washington  in  November,  1850.  He  had  "impres 
sions  ",  which  he  wrote  out.  Webster  was  then  68  ;  Clay 
73  ;  Everett  56.  These  men  around  Fillmore,  all  born  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  had  touched  a  former  world  and 
remembered  it.  In  contrast,  "Fillmore,  at  fifty-one,  was 
the  youngest  president  thus  far  in  office."  Webster  had 
' '  eyes  set  in  caverns  ' ' .  Everett  was  a  prig  and  a  rather 
solemn  American.  In  a  hall,  crowded  with  more  or  less 
rowdy ish  persons,  Bulwer  saw  the  audience  in  sobs,  as 
Webster  spoke  of  the  Pilgrims'  landing  at  Plymouth  in 
1620. 

Of  the  state  political  opinion  and  of  general  culture,  this . 
Englishman  wrote  :  "All  tremendous  Tories  in  the  South, 
and  the  general  mind  there  what  it  might  have  been  under 
the  Georges  ' ' .  The  United  States  were  interesting — ' '  rail 
way  trains  smashing,  steamboats  blowing  up,  banks  break 
ing",  yet  the  go-ahead  Yankeeism  has  achieved  in  a  few 
years  a  position  not  very  inferior  to  that  which  we  have 
been  for  centuries  acquiring.  .  .  .  The  women  are  the 
oligarchy  of  this  country.  .  .  .  The  cleverest  fellow  is 
only  'the  husband  of  the  charming  Mrs.  So  and  So'". 

The  real  bone  of  contention  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States   was   Nicaragua.     This,  a  narrow   land 
between  oceans,  promised  to  furnish  the  prize  for  which  the 
centuries  waited — a  short  route  to  the  Orient. 
8  113 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

Rich  in  gold,  mosquitoes,  mongrel  humanity  and  varied 
natural  resources,  somewhat  larger  than  Ohio,  Nicaragua 
touched  both  oceans.  Columbus  looked  at  one  of  its  points, 
but  Davila,  in  1522,  sailing  in  quest  of  the  Spice  Islands, 
found  an  Indian  chief  named  Nicaragua,  who  was  quickly 
"converted",  with  9,017  of  his  followers  to  "Christian 
ity".  All  these  hopeful  proselytes  were  "  baptized "  in 
one  day  !  Even  thus  early,  Davila  learned  that,  with  lake 
and  river,  there  was  an  easy  way  from  sea  to  sea.  The 
tradition  of  the  Nicaraguan  ship  canal,  about  which  whole 
libraries  of  description,  diplomacy  and  engineering  have 
been  written,  and  in  the  prospecting  and  surveying  of 
which,  fortunes  have  been  sunk,  was  thus,  in  1522,  estab 
lished.  After  three  centuries  of  Spanish  rule,  there  was  in 
1822  a  revolution,  which  issued  in  independence. 

At  this  time,  Great  Britain's  "sphere  of  influence  "  took 
in  Nicaragua,  and  the  people  of  Balize,  or  British  Honduras, 
"  crowned  "  the  "  king"  or  chief  of  the  Mosquito  Indians, 
who  in  due  time  claimed  the  land  on  both  sides  of  the  river 
San  Juan  del  Norte,  which  would  be  part  of  the  canal. 
Seizing  this  place  at  the  river's  mouth,  the  British  in  1847 
called  it  Greytown  and  in  a  treaty  with  Nicaragua,  this 
occupation  was  recognized. 

American  "Manifest  Destiny"  and  British  jingoism  be 
ing  both  in  the  air  at  this  time,  and  Polk  and  Palmerston 
being  twins  in  mental  make-up,  there  was  likely  to  be  a 
collision. 

It  looked  to  us  Americans  as  if  the  British  action  was  a 
blow  struck  purposely  at  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  It  was 
interpreted  as  the  gauntlet  flung  down  in  challenge  of  the 
American  control  of  the  canal.  Eager  to  flaunt  the  starry 
flag  before  the  British  lion,  Mr.  E.  D.  Squires,  our  agent 
drew  up  a  treaty  with  Nicaragua,  guaranteering  its  sover 
eignty  against  the  Mosquito  "  King  ",  who  was  the  Briton's 
stalking-horse,  for  which,  in  return,  the  United  States  was 

114 


NATIONAL  HONOR.     CANAL  AND  THE  TREATIES 

to  fortify  the  mouth  of  the  proposed  canal.  Such  a  treaty, 
carried  out  in  details,  meant  instant  war  with  Great  Britain 
and  possibly  other  European  Powers.  The  British  and 
American  seizures,  in  Central  America  and  in  California, 
took  place  at  about  the  same  time.  Both  nations,  suspic 
ious  of  each  other's  purposes,  were  angrily  awaiting  the 
next  move. 

Though  President  Taylor's  course  was  conciliatory,  mu 
tual  distrust  made  the  question  a  hot  one,  even  while  nego 
tiations  went  on.  Two  war-ships  with  soldiers  were  sent 
by  Great  Britain  to  occupy  an  island  near  the  expected 
terminal.  To  block  the  British  scheme,  our  envoy  E.  D. 
Squires,  obtained  a  temporary  cession  of  Tigre  Island. 
Thereupon,  the  British  naval  forces  seized  this  bit  of  real 
estate  "  for  debt." 

At  once  popular  indignation  in  the  United  States  rose  to 
white  heat.  The  Secretary  of  State,  John  M.  Clayton, 
fearing  that  his  diplomatic  hand  would  be  forced,  pushed 
forward  the  Anglo-American  treaty,  which  was  signed 
April  i Qth,  1851,  and  ratified  in  the  Senate,  by  a  vote  of 
42  to  ii. 

Does  it  ever  pay  to  suppress  the  truth,  or  to  lie  ? 

In  this  treaty,  the  points  at  issue  were  not  clearly  de 
fined.  Lord  Palmerston  wrote  to  Bulwer,  declaring  that 
Great  Britain  would  interpret  the  treaty  as  not  applying  to 
Honduras  "or  its  dependencies"  (which  included  Mos- 
quitia,  then  ruled  by  "  His  Mosquito  Majesty").  Clayton 
supposing  that  this  phrase  of  three  words  referred  only  to 
the  islands.  Confident  in  his  own  statesmanship,  which 
was  intended  to  satisfy  both  governments,  be  made  conceal 
ment  of  Palmerston' s  express  declaration.  The  treaty  was 
therefore  accepted  and  ratifications  were  exchanged,  five 
days  before  President  Taylor  died.  As  afterwards  clearly 
revealed,  the  United  States  had  pledged  themselves  not  to 
occupy  any  position  in  Central  America,  while  on  the  other 

"5 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

hand  Great  Britain  retained  control  of  the  entire  eastern 
coast  of  Nicaraugua  !  Here  was  a  first  class  diplomatic 
victory  for  Great  Britain  !  Verily  ' '  honesty  is  the  best 
policy  ",  Concealment  of  the  truth  is  ever  dangerous. 

The  Fillmore  administration  entered  upon  this  inheri 
tance  of  menace  and  danger  and  the  grave  reality  was  soon 
made  plain.  Neither  Power  was  satisfied  and  neither  would 
yield  the  point  at  issue.  The  British  bull  dog  held  on. 
Greytown  was  re-occupied  and  the  Mosquito  protectorate 
again  proclaimed.  The  Monroe  Doctrine  received  a  fresh 
blow  and  a  door  was  opened  for  more  trouble. 

In  November  1851,  the  American  ship  Prometheus,  loaded 
with  tools  and  supplies  for  the  men  working  on  the  Tehu- 
huantepec  Canal,  refusing  to  pay  dues  at  Greytown,  was 
pursued  and  fired  on  by  the  British  man-of-war  Express. 
When  the  news  reached  Washington,  the  Senate  at  once 
ordered  President  Fillmore  to  demand  redress  from  Great 
Britain.  Lord  Palmerston,  bluff  lover  of  fair  play,  at  once 
disallowed  the  act  of  Her  Majesty's  man-of-war,  but  the 
real  root  of  bitterness  still  existed. 

Meanwhile,  English  capitalists  started  to  build  a  ship 
railway  across  the  Isthmus,  and  in  August,  1852,  the 
British  forces  reoccupied  the  Bay  Islands,  on  the  northern 
end  of  Nicaragua,  formerly  part  of  Balize.  At  once  the 
flames  of  jealousy  were  rekindled  in  the  United  States. 

Clayton  had  shirked  the  point  at  issue  and  the  result  was 
a  host  of  troubles.  Nearly  fifty  years  of  disturbance  and 
irritation  followed,  nearly  wrecking  cabinets  and  adminis 
trations.  Not  until  the  twentieth  century  was  the  burning 
question  quenched.  Then,  the  Americans,  in  1904,  ac 
quired  virtual  control  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  Nica 
ragua  was  henceforth  left  like  an  old  post  road  after  the 
introduction  of  railways — until  a  fresh  outburst  of  chronic 
troubles  in  1909.  It  will  probably  yet  have  an  interoceanic 
canal. 

116 


NATIONAL  HONOR.     CANAL  AND  THE  TREATIES. 

The  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  was  intended  as  a  bar  to 
monopoly.  It  is  easy','  now,  to  stigmatize  it  as  "  the  most 
serious  diplomatic  mistake  in  our  history  ".  Such  a  judg 
ment  smacks  of  "  wisdom  after  the  event  ".  At  that  time, 
designed  to  bar  either  nation  from  monopoly,  the  treaty 
was  a  most  honorable  withdrawal,  by  both  parties,  from 
positions  calculated  to  generate  war.  The  canal  was  to  be 
for  all  nations.  In  1852,  the  Americans  were  more  anxious 
about  British  "encroachments"  than  for  the  ownership  of 
of  a  canal.  Our  government  "desired  the  compact  as  a 
bulwark  against  British  greed".  During  the  fifty-one 
years  of  the  life  of  the  treaty,  this  was  the  American  atti 
tude,  for  more  than  half  the  time. 

L,ater  the  Americans,  changing  their  tune,  wished  to 
abrogate  and  even  threatened  to  denounce  the  treaty.  The 
Hay-Pauncefote  treaty,  ratified  December  i6th,  1901, 
settled  the  matter  for  a  second  time.  In  1904,  the  cession 
of  the  Panama  Canal  Zone  set  aside  the  whole  Nicaraguan 
question.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  the  Clayton-Bulwer 
treaty,  both  Powers  agreed  not  to  erect  or  maintain  any 
fortification  at  the  canal  or  in  the  vicinity  thereof. 

During  all  this  later  time  of  changed  opinion,  when  the 
treaty  was  howled  against  and  men  looked  for  a  scape- goat 
the  odium  was  laid  on  Millard  Fillmore.  It  was  even  dug 
up  and  used  a  generation  after  his  death,  as  an  argument 
against  rearing  a  posthumous  statue  in  his  honor  at  Buffalo. 
Did  Clayton  commit  treason?  Was  not  Millard  Fillmore' s 
part  most  honorable  ? 

Mr.  Fillmore  all  his  life  upheld  vigorously  the  idea  of 
reciprocity  with  Great  Britain,  and  in  his  final  message  he 
discussed  this  vital  theme.  In  the  matter  of  the  I^obos 
Islands,  lying  westward  of  the  coast  of  Peru,  he  was  one  in 
sympathy  and  action  with  Queen  Victoria's  government. 
Both  British  and  American  adventurers  were  removing  at 
will  the  valuable  guano  deposits  and  vociferously  demanded 

117 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

the  protection  of  war  vessels.  Lord  Palmerston,  believing 
that  Peru  had  a  just  claim  on  the  islands  as  part  of  her 
own  territory,  denied  the  request.  Mr.  Webster,  poorly 
informed,  gave  encouragement  to  American  commercial 
filibusters  to  remove  the  deposits. 

The  Peruvian  minister  protested.  *  Mr.  Fillmore  read 
from  the  British  Blue  Book  the  facts,  as  given  in  the 
correspondence  from  1832  to  1852,  and  through  his  secre 
tary  of  state,  made  amends  for  the  wrong  done  to  Peru. 
In  a  noble  editorial,  which  was  widely  copied  in  America, 
the  London  Times  made  handsome  acknowledgement  of 
the  President's  statesmanship. 

In  the  light  of  their  attitude  in  relation  to  treaties  with 
Asians  and  Europeans,  and  on  the  oceanic  canal  question, 
it  is  in  1914  an  open  question,  whether  the  ethical  sense  or 
the  practical  political  morality  of  the  American  people;has 
improved  since  1851.  They  have  violated  one  treaty  with 
China,  to  suit  "the  Pacific  coast"  ;  and,  to  please  Man 
hattan  Hebrews  chiefly,  denounced  their  sacred  obliga 
tions  with  Russia.  After  making  a  solemn  compact  with 
Great  Britain,  it  is  now  to  be  seen  whether  we  are  to'com- 
mit  national  perfidy.  The  California  land  laws  of  1913  are 
violations  of  the  spirit  of  the  treaty  with  Japan.  Probably 
we  need  ethical  reinforcement  and  a  more  sensitive  na 
tional  conscience. 

This  era  of  diplomacy,  1849-1853 — one  of  the  most 
notable  in  American  history — was  also  a  period  of  national 
education  and  creative  experiment,  in  which  our  statesmen 
had  to  feel  their  way.  Multifarious  interests  kept  the 
United  States  Government  in  active  negotiation  with  the 
nations  of  three  continents,  Europe,  Asia  and  America. 
Yet  except  Wheaton's,  none  of  the  great  works  on  inter 
national  law  by  American  authors,  a  field  in  which  they 
have  won  such  honerable  fame,  were  then  written.  V*  In 
quiring  of  Edward  Everett,  Webster's  successor,  for  a 

118 


NATIONAL  HONOR.     CANAL  AND  THE  TREATIES 

bibliography  of  international  law,  the  President  received  a 
list  of  about  fifty  works,  almost  all  in  foreign  languages, 
and  an  answer,  in  part,  as  follows  :  "  There  is  no  depart 
ment  of  moral  science  in  which  the  English  language  is  so 
poorly  supplied  with  original  authors,  as  the  law  of  nations. 
It  is  necessary  to  resort  to  translations  to  make  out  any 
thing  like  a  complete  list."  Happily  this  is  not  now  the 
case.  If  Americans  could  only  lead  in  the  practice,  as 
they  do  in  the  theory  of  international  law  ! 

President  Fillmore  was,  in  a  true  sense,  a  pioneer.  He 
was  an  opportunist  in  that  he  steered  from  headland  to 
headland,  by  the  star  of  precedent  set  by  Washington,  but 
no  one  could  ever  doubt  either  his  stalwart  Americanism 
or  his  purpose  to  do  right,  as  God  gave  him  to  see  the  right. 


119 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  Nominating  Convention  of  1852. 

The  Whig  party,  being  one  of  economics  and  treasure, 
rather  than  of  ethics  and  principle,  was.one  more  of  policy, 
than  of  the  highest  politics.  Its  appeal  was  to  the  text, 
rather  than  to  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution. 

The  victory  in  1848,  which  gave  the  Whigs  almost  as 
many  representatives  in  Congress  as  their  opponents,  was 
painfully  deceptive.  There  was  no  basis  of  principle  in 
the  New  York  contest,  which  was  really  one  of  those 
struggles  between  the  National  and  State  party  machines, 
so  common  in  the  Empire  State,  wherein  politics  respond 
so  promptly  to  personal  manipulation. 

The  first  note  of  the  coming  dissolution  of  parties  was 
sounded  by  Toombs  of  Georgia.  He  insisted  on  a  formal 
condemnation  of  Wilmot's  Anti-Slavery  Proviso.  When 
the  caucus  refused  to  consider  the  resolution,  the  Toombs 
faction  declined  to  act  further  with  the  party.  In  the 
Congress  of  1849,  the  Southern  Whigs,  held  together  in 
all  the  interests  of  slavery  with  the  Southern  Democrats, 
being  one  on  the  final  vote. 

Placed  between  two  fires — their  Southern  associates  and 
their  own  constituents — the  Northern  Whigs  made  only 
passive  resistance,  spending  most  of  their  time  in  the 
lobbies.  This  conduct  drew  the  lightning  of  scorn  from 
the  implacable  Thaddeus  Stevens.  The  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  once  passed,  the  Pennsylvanian  suggested  that  the 
Speaker  should  send  a  page  into  the  lobby  to  inform  absent 
members  that  they  might  now  return  with  safety.  In  the 
face  of  events,  such  a  policy  could  not  long  endure.  It 
was  a  house  divided  against  itself. 

American  political  history  shows  more  than  one  chasm 
between  the  politicians  and  the  people.  This  time,  cotton 

120 


THE  NOMINATING  CONVENTION  OF  1852 

and  conscience,  money  and  principle  being  at  odds,  great 
crevasses  opened  in  the  boundary  dykes.  In  New  York 
the  "  Silver  Greys  ",  followers  of  Fillmore,  or  "  Adminis 
tration  Whigs  ",  found  themselves  opposed  to  Seward  and 
his  followers.  Yet  party  machinery  was  still  strong  and 
the  people  had  no  leaders  to  formulate  and  incarnate  their 
hopes.  The  volcano  crust  hardened  for  a  while.  During 
the  first  twent)'  months  of  Fillmore's  administration,  there 
was  much  murmuring  but  no  open  revolt.  The  deeps 
were  dumb. 

The  Southern  Whigs  issued  an  ultimatum,  which  meant 
the  party's  division,  or  its  defeat.  The  recognition  of  the 
compromise  of  1850  was  to  be  accepted  as  a  finality.  In 
troduced  into  the  caucus,  it  had  been  evaded  or  ignored, 
but  at  the  Baltimore  nominating  Convention  of  June,  1852, 
it  took  ominous  form.  The  eighth  and  final  plank  of  the 
platform  read,  (resolved)  tl  That  the  series  of  acts  in  the 
thirty-second  Congress,  the  act  known  as  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  included,  are  received  and  acquiesced  in  by  the 
Whig  party  of  the  United  States  as  a  settlement  in  principle 
and  substance  [underscored  at  the  suggestion  of  Webster 
and  Choate]  of  the  dangers  and  exciting  questions  which 

they  embraced and  we  will  maintain  the  system 

as  essential  to  the  nationality  of  the  party  and  the  integrity 
of  the  Union." 

After  this,  the  popular  verdict  that  the  "  Whig  party 
died  of  an  attempt  to  swallow  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law", 
does  not  seem  an  unreasonable  one. 

It  is  wholesome  discipline  for  an  American  to  study  the 
opinions,  about  our  methods  of  government  and  of  party 
machinery,  as  held  in  England,  "  the  mother  of  Parlia 
ments".  The  tone  of  the  London  Times  editorials  and 
comment,  in  view  of  the  Baltimore  Convention,  was  sym 
pathetic  and  fine.  "The  eighteenth  century  saw  the 
colonies  lost  to  Great  Britain,  but  now  behold  the  United 

121 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

States  ! What  actually  exists  is  only  the  begin 
nings  of  a  grandeur  which  seems  destined  to  surpass  all  the 
precedents  and  the  various  conceptions  of  the  Old  World." 
Up  to  1850,  it  could  be  said  that  the  Pope  and  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  were  the  two  principal  elective 
rulers  of  mankind.  • 

Yet  since  that  date  (1852)  how  great  has  been  the  growth 
of  Democracy,  the  spread  of  American  ideas,  the  founding 
of  republics,  and  the  multiplication  of  written  constitu 
tions,  not  only  in  Europe  but  even  in  Asia — Japan  leading 
the  nations  of  the  oldest  continent,  and  China  joining  in 
humanity's  procession  ! 

As  matter  of  fact,  Mr.  Fillmore  seems  to  have  given 
himself  little  concern  as  to  his  future  political  career.  On 
June  1 6,  1852,  he  wrote  a  letter  withdrawing  his  name 
from  the  nominating  convention  in  Baltimore.  It  was  not 
however  read  in  the  convention. 

The  following  letters,  no  doubt  hastily  penned,  are  in 
the  Buffalo  collection  of  "  Letters  Received"  : 

Daniel  Webster  to  Millard  Fillmore. 

"  Private. 

My  dear  Sir: — I  have  sent  a  communication  to  Baltimore 
this  morning  to  have  an  end  put  to  the  pending  contro 
versy.  I  think  it  most  probable  that  you  will  be  nominated 
before  10  o'clock.  But  this  is  my  opinion  merely. 

Yours, 

D.  W." 

Inside  the  envelope  containing  the  above  note,  is  the 
answer  from  Millard  Fillmore  to  Daniel  Webster. 

Washington,  June  24th. 

"My  dear  Sir: — I  have  your  note  saying  that  you  had 
sent  a  communication  to  Baltimore,  to  have  an  end  put  to 
the  pending  controversy. 

I  had  intimated  to  my  friends,  who  left  last  evening  and 
this  morning,  a  strong  desire  to  have  my  name  withdrawn, 

122 


THE  NOMINATING  CONVENTION  OF  1852 

which  I  presume  will  be  done,  unless  the  knowledge  of 
your  communication  shall  prevent  it.  I  therefore  wish  to 
know  whether  your  friends  will  make  known  your  com 
munication  to  mine  before  the  balloting  commences  this 
morning.  If  not,  I  apprehend  it  may  be  too  late  to  effect 

anything. 

Yours, 

HON.  D.  WEBSTER.  MILLARD  FIUJVIORE. 

9:30  A.  M. 

As  for  the  time  for  nominations  drew  near,  Mr.  Webster 
expressed  in  exact  terms  the  philosophy  of  the  history  of 
the  Whig  party.  For  over  thirty  years  it  had  had  a  noble 
record.  It  started  on  the  downward  trend,  when  the  flag 
of  "availability  ",  as  in  the  case  of  Harrison,  was  reared. 
Instead  of  trained  statesmen,  political  nonentities  were 
nominated  for  the  presidency.  In  1849,  nothing  was  known 
as  to  Taylor's  political  abilities,  and  little  of  the  man,  ex 
cept  that  he  was  the  hero  of  Buena  Vista.  "They  hap 
pened  to  nominate  an  able  man  for  the  vice-presidency,  who 
succeeded  to  the  Government  after  a  year"  ....  "I 
think  ",  said  he,  "  that  Mr.  Fillmore  has  given  us  as  fair 
and  impartial  and  able  administration  as  the  Government 
has  had  for  many  years." 

Later  on,  he  declared  that  he  was  "  nauseated  at  another 
dose  of  availability ''  in  the  nomination  of  General  Scott. 
He  predicted  his  sure  defeat,  not  allowing  him  the  electoral 
vote  of  as  many  as  six  states.  (As  matter  of  fact,  Scott 
gained  only  four.)  Even  if  chosen,  he  would  be  a  mere 
tool  in  the  hands  of  the  New  York  Whig  regency,  headed 
by  the  gentleman  from  Auburn.  In  fact,  the  real  presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  would  be  William  H.  Seward, 
and  not  Winfield  Scott.  He  prophesied  that  the  party 
would  cease  to  exist  after  November  4,  1852. 

On  his  death  bed,  Henry  Clay  said  to  the  delegates  to 
Baltimore, — "  Fillmore,  by  all  means." 

123 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

To  this  convention,  the  Southern  men  had  come  to  up 
hold  Mr.  Fillmore  and  the  compromise  measures,  but  many 
from  the  North  had  no  such  desire  and  did  not  even  want 
a  platform  or  declaration  of  principles,  while  the  delega 
tion  from  the  South  insisted  upon  one.  Finally  the  bar 
gain  was  struck  and  the  "  deal  "  made«in  a  manifesto,  the 
pith  of  which  was  that  the  compromise  measures  formed 
"  a  settlement,  in  principle  and  substance,  of  the  dangerous 
and  exciting  questions  which  they  embrace."  Yet  against 
this  platform,  which  they  openly  derided,  seventy  northern 
delegates  voted. 

In  the  Convention  of  1852,  three  candidates  were  pre 
sented.  On  the  first  ballot,  Fillmore  had  133  votes,  Scott 
131,  and  Webster  29.  On  the  second  ballot,  the  votes  for 
Fillmore  and  Scott  were  reversed.  From  this  point  there 
was  little  change,  until  on  the  53rd  ballot,  Scott  was 
nominated  by  a  vote  of  159,  to  112  for  Fillmore  and  21  for 
Webster.  On  the  second  ballot  for  the  vice-presidency, 
Graham  was  nominated. 


124 


CHAPTER  XX. 
The  Era  of  Prosperity  :  1849-1853. 

Millard  Fillmore's  hand  was  placed  on  the  helm  of  the 
Ship  of  State  in  a  time  of  storm  and  danger.  The  United 
States,  having  nearly  doubled  its  area  by  the  accession 
of  the  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi,  novel  experiences 
had  to  be  entered  upon  and  colossal  responsibilities  faced, 
even  while  the  Union  was  confronted  with  the  slavery 
question,  at  its  most  heated  stage.  However  he  attempted 
to  solve  this  double  task,  he  must  meet  obloquy,  for  both 
North  and  South  were  diligently  searching  for  a  scapegoat 
and  loudly  demanded  a  victim. 

It  was  an  era  of  mad  ambitions  and  huckstering  politics, 
of  the  shameless  abuse  of  patronage,  of  the  calling  of  vile 
names  and  even  of  armed  collision  in  legislative  halls.  In 
economics,  a  new  era  had  begun.  A  great  wave  of  emi 
gration  set  westwardly  over  the  plains,  while  on  the  sea 
fleets  were  carrying  the  Argonauts  of  industry  and  free 
dom  to  the  Pacific  coast.  Simultaneously,  a  refluent  surge 
of  golden  treasure  moved  to  the  East,  creating  an  era  of 
prosperity  unknown  before  in  American  history. 

President  Fillmore  had,  first  of  all,  to  face  a  hostile  ma 
jority  in  Congress.  His  own  Americanism  was  according 
to  noble  ideals,  his  foresight  commendable  and  his  recom 
mendations  of  highest  value.  Yet  these  latter  were  for 
the  most  part  ignored.  Yet  his  was  statesmanship  of  the 
highest  order.  He  was  President  of  the  whole  and  all  of 
the  United  States.  The  nation  had  been  built  up  by  con 
cessions  and  compromises,  and  he  believed  it  must  be  main 
tained  in  the  same  way. 

To-day,  the  practical  results  of  Fillmore's  statesmanship 
are  obvious.  His  administration  was  marked  by  a  vigor 
ous  and  fruitful  foreign  policy,  by  reduction  of  inland 

125 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

postage,  the  establishment  of  marine  and  military  hospitals, 
the  initiation  of  transit  between  the  Mississippi  valley  and 
the  Pacific  ocean,  the  general  use  of  the  telegraph,  assertion 
of  the  non-intervention  principle,  reform  of  the  land  laws, 
beneficent  naval  activities,  enlargement  of  the  capitol,  and 
the  introduction  of  water  and  the  increase  of  comforts  and 
adornments  in  the  city  of  Washington.  In  all  these  meas 
ures,  Mr.  Fillmore's  interest  was  direct  and  personal.  He 
led  the  way  in  urgency  of  the  measures  which  led  to  the 
formation  of  the  Agricultural  Bureau,  now  a  department  of 
the  Government  and  represented  in  the  Cabinet.  .  The 
United  States  could  in  some  things  furnish  Europe  a  good 
example.  Six  days  before  Franklin  Pierce  was  inaugu 
rated,  Napoleon  III.  entered  Paris  as  Emperor  of  the 
French,  and  the  Empire  was  proclaimed.  France  was  again 
robbed  of  her  liberties  by  an  adventurer. 

In  England,  it  was  hard  for  the  average  man  to  see  in 
what  way  this  proceeding  of  Louis,  quondam  London  police 
man  and  Frenchman,  differed  from  filibustering,  and 
wherein  the  acts  of  Walker  the  filibuster,  were  morally  in 
ferior  to  those  of  Napoleon  the  Little. 

In  striking  contrast  was  the  quiet  and  orderly  change  of 
administration  in  the  United  States — all  in  accordance  with 
law  and  precedent  and  moving  almost  with  automatic  pre 
cision.  The  American  way  called  forth  the  unbounded 
admiration  of  the  English  press.  The  Times  editorial 
spoke  of  the  inauguration  of  President  Franklin  Pierce  as 
a  spectacle  of  sublime  majesty,  which  threw  the  pageants 
of  Kings  into  the  shade. 

"  The  march  of  events  in  each  succeeding  year  convinces 
us  more  and  more  that  there  is  no  occurrence  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  British  Empire,  and  out  of  our  control,  which 
exercises  so  great  and  important  an  influence  on  our  wel 
fare  as  the  character  and  quality  of  the  American  Govern 
ment."  We  criticize  American  institutions  as  freely  as 

126 


THE  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY:  1849-1853 

we  do  our  own,  but  are  conscious  that  these  institutions 
"  are  but  the  trans- Atlantic  growth  of  our  liberties,  our 
laws,  and  our  language,  sprung  from  one  root  and  bred  by 
one  people." 

Mr.  Fillmore  was  kept  busy  at  signing  documents  until 
midnight  of  March  3rd,  1853.  In  tne  morning,  the  air 
was  chilly  and  the  sky  cloudy,  foretokening  weather  that 
would  discourage  show  and  mean  much  discomfort  to  out 
door  spectators.  Both  of  the  chief  servants  were  brothers 
in  grief,  for  Mr.  Pierce  was  to  enter  on  public  station,  and 
Mr.  Fillmore  to  leave  it  in  great  private  sorrow.  Even 
while  on  his  way  to  Washington,  the  son  of  the 
president-elect  met  his  death  in  a  railway  accident.  Rid 
ing  from  the  Executive  Mansion,  in  company  with  his 
predecessor,  Mr.  Pierce  stood  erect  in  the  carriage,  bowing 
to  all,  while  Mr.  Fillmore  sat,  enjoying  the  scene.  At  the 
western  end  of  the  Capitol,  the  chief  men  alighted  and  after 
gathering  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  the  procession  moved 
through  the  rotunda,  past  the  historic  pictures  to  the 
eastern  portico. 

In  front  of  the  eastern  porch  of  the  Capitol,  an  enormous 
crowd  had  gathered,  many  people  having  slept  on  the  steps 
the  night  before.  During  the  ceremony  a  heavy  fall  of 
snow  took  place. 

Private  sorrows  did  indeed  seem  to  centre  around  the 
inaugural  event  of  March  4th,  1853.  Quickly  following 
the  death  of  President  Pierce's  son,  was  the  decease  of 
Mrs.  Fillmore,  in  Washington,  and,  on  the  same  day,  of 
Mrs.  lyewis  Cass  in  Detroit.  In  token  of  sympathy  the 
Government  offices  in  Washington  were  closed,  the  Senate 
suspended  session,  the  Cabinet  adjourned,  and  the  flags, 
bearing  the  thirty-one  stars,  hung  at  half-mast.  Vice- 
President  King  died  at  his  home  in  Alabama,  April  i8th. 

Mrs.  Fillmore  took  cold  while  standing  in  the  wintry 
weather  during  the  whole  of  the  inaugural  exercises  on 

127 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

the  chilling  stone  of  the  Capital  porch.  After  a  few 
week's  illness,  she  died  in  Willard's  Hotel,  March  3oth. 

It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  in  a  survey  of  the  life  thus 
ended,  of  this  devoted  wife,  mother,  friend  and  gracious 
lady  of  the  White  House — one  of  a  noble  succession — that 
she,  Abigail  Powers,  was  doubly  well  named,  and  grandly 
worthy  of  the  significance  of  the  cognomen,  Abigail,  which 
was  also  her  mother's  name.  Like  the  tactful  heroine  of 
Scripture,  who  became  the  helpmeet  of  Israel's  king,  Miss 
Powers'  name  was  given  in  unconscious  prophecy,  since 
she  became  the  wife  of  a  nation's  leader.  Whether  on  the 
frontier,  amid  log  cabins,  in  the  city,  at  the  State  or  the 
Nation's  center,  she  exemplified  in  her  radiant  influence 
the  Japanese  proverb,  "  Where  you  live — that's  the  capi 
tal."  Her  reading  and  self-culture  were  never  inter 
mitted.  She  ever  lived  up  to  her  opportunities.  After 
having  been  already  twice  a  mother,  besides  becoming  an 
accomplished  musician,  she  learned  the  French  language, 
so  as  to  enjoy  its  rich  literature.  From  the  first  day  of 
their  marriage  until  she  laid  down  the  burdens  of  life, 
Millard  Fillmore  never  took  an  important  step  without 
consulting  her.  Of  her,  as  a  wife,  it  was  long  before 
written  :  "  The  heart  of  her  husband  doth  safely  trust  in 

her She  will  do  him  good  and  not  evil,  all  the 

days  of  her  life." 

Millard  Fillmore  was  the  chief  servant  of  twenty-four 
millions  of  people,  during  an  age  of  national  expansion,  of 
naval  activity  of  a  double  westward  emigration — by  land 
and  sea — and  of  an  immigration  unparalled  in  history. 
Never  before,  in  so  short  a  time,  did  Europe  pour  so  many 
of  her  surplus  myriads  upon  our  shores.  Never  did  the 
Atlantic  States  give  to  the  new  West  such  multitudes  of 
their  children. 

Apart  from  humanitarian  considerations,  the  African  in 
the  land  was  considered  an  asset.  Slavery  had  to  spread 

128 


THE  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY:  1849-1853 

westward  or  die.     Economic  forces  compelled  this  alterna 
tive.     Herein  lay  the  core  of  the  whole  controversy  con 
cerning  the  territories.     The  conflict  was  not  one  of  opin 
ion  only,  nor  was  the  negro  merely  a  lay  figure.     In  th 
battle  of  economics,  ethical  principles  were  indeed  involved  ; 
yet,  since  the  matter  touched  men's  pockets,   they  became 
ultra  strenuous  in  politics.     The  "  Institution  "  of  slavery 
provoked  vital  questions  of  wealth  or  poverty,  of  sterilizing, 
the  soil  or  of  maintaining  its  fertility,  of  keeping  alive  in^^ 
the  world  a  belated  form  of  feudalism,  or  of  promoting  the/- 
freedom  of  man. 

Two  parallel  and  westward- moving  forms  of  civilization 
were  in  rivalry.  They  were  based  respectively  on  free  and 
on  slave  labor.  The  force  was  not  static  but  dynamic,  for 
there  were  continual  accessions  of  strength,  as  new  states 
were  formed.  Human  bondage,  by  its  economic  folly 
alone,  was  as  foredoomed  as  had  been  the  two  feudalisms 
of  the  New  World,  French  and  Dutch,  of  patroons  and 
seignors.  Not  all  the  pulpits  and  wrested  scriptures  could 
keep  back  the  hostile  forces  that  smote  slavery.  When 
ethics  joined  economics,  the  "institution"  reeled  in  the 
crash  of  war. 

From  1848  to  1852,  our  national  prosperity  was  phe4 
nomenal.  California  gold  and  the  products  of  the  soil 
augmented  other  resources,  for  our  ships  and  flag  wer4 
then  on  every  sea  and  the  home  market  was  immense. 
New  inventions  conserved  or  created  wealth.  On  the 
Mississippi  river  alone — the  largest  single  trade  route  in 
the  country — commerce,  now  aided  by  steam,  amounted  to 
two  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  Except  from  California, 
the  news  of  all  the  states  could  be  read  at  the  breakfast- 
table.  Moses  Farmer,  Joseph  Henry,  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse 
and  Ezra  Cornell  had  done  the  telegraph  work,  which,  when 
correlated,  turned  sparks  into  letters  and  thrills  into  words. 


129 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

Tidings  from  the  Pacific  Coast  came  by  pony  express, 
whenever  the  nimble  riders  were  able  to  dodge  Indian 
arrows  and  bullets.  The  Panama  railway  had  been  com 
pleted.  Large  numbers  of  ex-presidents,  of  impromptu 
and  defunct  South  and  Central  American  republics,  with 
their  families,  reared  between  revolutions,  visited  the 
United  States  to  put  their  children  to  school.  Some  of  us, 
as  their  playmates,  well  remember  them  and  their  seniors. 
The  quest  after  unseen  and  imponderable  forces  was  no 
less  assiduous.  Great  gatherings  of  "  Shakers,  ranters, 
jokers,  and  barkers  "  professed  to  act  in  the  name  of  the 
invisible  intelligences.  The  phenomena,  on  which  mental 
healing  and  spiritualism  depend,  are  as  old  as  the  human 
consciousness.  The  student  of  man  and  mind  in  other 
lands — in  Japan,  for  example — sees  nothing  new  in  Ameri 
can  manifestations  of  nervous  or  psychic  force,  or  in  the 
latest  dogmas  of  professed  healers.  All  countries  have 
them.  In  our  later  days,  spiritism,  in  its  varied  doctrinal 
evolutions  and  forms  of  expression,  has  been  mightily  re 
inforced  from  its  original  home  in  Asia.  Its  confusing 
vocabulary,  its  crystal- gazing,  and  its  scraps  of  Buddhism 
still  win  devotees,  yet  it  has  not  yet  brought  to  the  ordinary 
man,  voyaging  on  the  sea  of  life,  "  the  image  of  a  home 
ward  sail." 

.  Few  of  those  who  followed  the  gleam  of  a  grand  idea, 
or  pursued  to  fruition  a  real  purpose  to  elevate  mankind, 
seemed  able,  when  at  the  full  tide  of  success,  to  show  that 
balance  of  mind  and  sanity  of  self-control  which  are  the 
marked  characteristics  of  great  men.  Perhaps  none  illus 
trated  this  truth  more  signally  than  the  Mormon  leader, 
Brigham  Young,  for  whose  lapse  into  lawlessness,  Millard 
Fillmore  was  held  responsible.  One  has  but  to  look  at  the 
facts  to  see  the  absurdity  of  the  charge. 


130 


THE  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY',  1849-1853 

Except  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  no  act  of  the  thirteenth 
president  was  more  harshly  criticized  than  his  appointment 
of  Brigham  Young  as  Governor  of  Utah.  Yet  when  the 
Act  making  Utah  a  territory  was  passed  in  1850,  the  Mor 
mons  were  quiet  and  orderly.  Persecuted  and  driven 
away  from  their  property,  it  was  natural  that  they  should 
feel  bitterly  toward  the  Gentiles,  and  even  against  the 
Government  in  Washington.  Following  his  life-long  habit, 
Mr.  Fillmore,  considering  that  conciliation  was  better  than 
coercion,  thought  that  the  Mormons  might  be  won  back  to 
loyal  allegiance,  if  their  liberty  of  conscience  was  respected. 
Brigham  Young,  the  son  of  a  Vermont  farmer  and  educated 
in  a  Baptist  church,  had  not  joined  the  Mormons,  until 
1832.  In  a  word,  Mr.  Fillmore  as  usual  followed  the  best 
American  traditions.  Not  until  near  the  close  of  his  ad 
ministration,  was  it  known  that  polygamy  was  to  be  the 
law  of  the  Mormon  church,  while  the  complicity  of  the 
Mormons  with  the  Mountain  Meadow  massacre  in  1857, 
was  not  known  until  1874,  the  year  of  Mr.  Fillmore' s 
death. 

The  beauty  of  the  national  capital  and  the  enlargement 
of  the  capitol  owe  much  to  President  Fillmore.  In  Con 
gress,  as  Chairman  of  affairs  relating  to  the  District  of 
Columbia,  he  was  earnest  and  active  in  having  the  city 
developed  according  to  the  original  plans  of  the  French 
engineer,  Major  1' Enfant.  In  his  third  annual  message  he 
recommended  the  introduction  of  water  into  the  city,  then 
supplied  by  pumps  and  wells.  He  adopted,  after  careful 
examination,  the  plans  for  the  new  edifice  of  the  national 
legislature.  Then  he  so  hastened  the  work  that  the  cornei- 
stone  of  the  extension  of  the  present  capitol  was  laid,  by 
his  own  hands,  July  4th,  1851.  Three  aged  men,  who  had 
seen  George  Washington  perform  the  same  office  in  1793, 
when  the  hamlet  on  the  Potomac  contained  but  five  hun- 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

dred  souls,  were  present.  Daniel  Webster  delivered  the 
oration.  When  a  fire  destroyed  the  most  of  the  Library  of 
Congress,  in  the  winter  of  1851,  Mr.  Fillmore  worked  with 
firemen  at  the  engines.  In  various  ways,  the  President 
wrought  earnestly  to  make  the  nation's  capital  the  gem  of 
American  cities.  At  the  end  of  his*  term  of  office,  the 
citizens  of  Washington  tendered  him  a  complimentary 
dinner  for  having  done  so  much  for  the  City  Beautiful. 


132 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
Politics  and  Immigration. 

A  recurrent  feature  in  American  politics,  ever  since 
Colonial  days,  has  been  the  popular  opposition  to  freshl^ 
arriving  aliens.  Pennsylvania  first  took  alarm  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  because  of  the  influx  of  Germans  and 
again  in  the  nineteenth,  when  the  Irish  came  in  like  a 
flood.  From  time  to  time,  there  have  been  invasions  from 
Europe  in  sudden  numbers  that  seemed  menancing.  The 
flood  from  southern  Europe  in  our  day  had  not  yet  begun. 

These  outbursts  of  jealousy,  suspicion  and  alarm,  in  the 
American  colonies,  arose  from  the  instinct  of  self-preserva 
tion,  rather  than  from  any  activity  of  the  speculative  in 
tellect.  Race-memory  recalled  emotions  from  the  forgotton 
aeons  of  history,  when  in  the  migration  of  tribes,  one  sup 
planted  another,  or  became  its  conqueror.  The  same  story 
has  been  repeated  all  over  the  earth.  There  is  a  comic  side 
of  the  matter  and  one  that  is  as  old  as  the  question  as  to 
which  one  is  the  "  troubler  of  Israel."  Peter  Stuyvesant 
regarded  the  Yankees  as  interlopers,  when  he  dated  his 
letter  from  "  Hartford  in  New  Netherlands '  It  is  even 
better  known  how  the  New  Englanders  looked  down  upon 
the  Dutchmen,  and  how  the  Indian  considered  both  as 
intruders. 

Nevertheless  there  was  scarcely  an  anti-alien  organiza 
tion  or  party,  until  1852.  Following  the  failure  of  the 
revolutions  in  Europe  and  of  the  potato  crop  in  over 
crowded  Ireland,  the  stream  of  immigrants  was  phenomenal. 
In  America,  Pat  took  to  politics  as  naturally  as  a  mos 
quito  to  the  human  circulation,  and  soon  waxed  fat  with 
office.  The  Whigs  saw  that  these  men,  as  soon  as 
naturalized,  voted  with  the  Democrats  and  some  of  the 
former  resorted  to  secrecy  and  oaths  to  combat  the  evil. 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

If  we  except  early  Masonry  in  New  York,  this  method 
was  new  in  American  politics.  A  secret,  oath-bound 
fraternity,  modeled  on  some  of  those  already  in  existence, 
in  which  there  were  many  degrees,  was  formed.  Its  real 
objects,  and  even  the  name  of  the  order,  were  not  known 
until  the  lower  initiates  had  reached  the  higher  ranks.  To 
all  questions,  the  answer  was  "  I  don't  know  ",  and  hence 
the  popular  term,  "  The  Know  Nothing  Party  ".  Another 
nickname  was  "  Sam",  for  the  knowing  members,  in  their 
replies,  at  least,  had  "seen  Sam".  Some  say  that  the 
true  name  of  the  order  was  "  The  Sons  of  '76  ",  or  "  The 
Order  of  the  Star  Spangled  Banner  ".  Ostensibly  the  mo 
tive  of  this  new  organization  was  to  curtail  both  the  in 
creasing  power  and  the  purpose  of  the  Roman  hierarchy  in 
America,  which  was  then  openly  hostile  to  our  public 
school  system,  and  to  curb  the  greed  and  incapacity  of  un- 
naturalized  citizens  for  public  office.  Its  motto  was 
"  Americans  must  rule  America  "  and  its  countersign  was 
given  in  words  ascribed  to  Washington,  "Put  none  but 
Americans  on  duty  to-night." 

Mr.  Fillmore's  attitude  to  and  record  in  the  American 
Party  was  at  least  consistent.  He  had  long  before  grieved 
over  the  alien's  abuse  of  the  elective  franchise,  which  was 
the  real  cause  for  the  revival  of  native  Americanism.  No 
registration  laws  and  no  rigid  guarding  of  the  ballot  box 
then  existed.  When  he  had  seen  in  Europe,  not  only 
among  the  natives,  but  of  foreign-born  persons  representing 
the  United  States  abroad,  served  only  to  confirm  him  in  his 
opinions.  He  was  unalterably  opposed  to  dividing  the 
school  fund  among  the  sects,  or  to  taxing  freemen  to  sup 
port  dogma  and  ritual. 

In  his  view,  the  American  Party  was  not  founded  on 
hostility  to  foreigners,  but  to  their  taking  part  in  politics 
before  becoming  imbued  with  American  sentiments. 

His  motive  and  purpose  was  to  preserve  the  purity  of 

134 


POLITICS  AND  IMMIGRATION 

American  institutions,  especially  since  he  believed,  with 
many  of  his  countrymen,  that  it  was  the  set  and  avowed 
purpose  of  the  adherents  of  one  form  of  Christianity,  then 
allied  with  political  power,  to  destroy  the  American  public 
school  system.  He  had  opposed  Governor  Seward's  propo 
sition,  in  1840  and  1841,  to  the  legislature  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  to  set  apart  a  portion  of  its  common-school  fund 
for  the  support  of  sectarian  schools.  This  anti- American 
notion  was  pressed  with  all  the  arguments  that  could  be 
devised  in  its  favor  by  an  artful  and  ingenious  mind. 

The  foreign  residents,  holding  the  balance  of  power  be 
tween  the  two  old  parties,  were  conscious  of  being  able  to 
turn  the  scale  as  they  pleased.  They  demanded  a  large 
share  of  the  important  offices,  to  the  exclusion  of  native 
born  citizens,  claiming  them  as  a  reward  for  thronging  the 
caucuses  and  primary  meetings  and  in  hanging  about  the 
polls  and  bullying  quiet,  native  citizens,  who  went  to  de 
posit  their  votes.  In  Europe,  Mr.  Fillmore's  convictions 
were  intensified  at  seeing  so  many  of  our  diplomatic  posts 
held  by  men  not  born  in  the  United  States.  From  first  to 
last,  he  approved  of  the  Native  American's  Party's  object 
and  formally  united  with  it.  / 

Meeting  in  Philadelphia,  February  22,  1856  the  dele 
gates  of  the  Native  American  (Know  Nothing)  National 
Convention  adopted  a  platform  which  condemned  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  demanded  a  twenty-one 
years  residence  in  the  United  States  of  all  foreigners,  before 
naturalization.  One  fourth  of  the  delegates,  anti-slavery 
in  sentiment,  had  withdrawn.  The  majority  nominated 
Millard  Fillmore  and  Andrew  Jackson  Donelson  of  Tennes 
see  as  their  candidates.  Mr.  Fillmore  wrote  his  letter  of 
acceptance  from  Europe. 

There  was  another  and  external,  but  potent  reason  for 
the  formation  of  this  new  party.  After  the  Whigs  had 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

reached  their  Waterloo,  in  the  defeat  of  Scott  and  Graham, 
untried  men  sought  to  build  up  a  new  political  structure 
on  the  ruins  of  the  old  organization,  by  utilizing  the  deep- 
seated  feeling  among  the  Whigs  against  the  foreign  vote. 
This  promised  a  possible  escape  from  the  slavery  question. 
Hence  the  remnants  of  the  Whig  party,  meeting  at  Balti- 
,more  September  12,  1856,  endorsed  the  American  nomina 
tion  of  Fillmore  and  Donelson,  without  approving  the  plat 
form,  of  the  Know  Nothings.  The  northern  Whigs,  for 
the  most  part,  entered  the  fold  of  the  new  Republican 
party,  while  not  a  few  leaders  went  over  to  the  Democrats. 
In  administering  on  the  estate  of  the  defunct  Whig  party, 
the  majority  of  Republicans  held  to  its  economic  doctrines. 

By  its  enemies,  Know-Nothingism,  popularly  so  called, 
was  denounced  as  "  a  well-timed  scheme  to  divide  the  peo 
ple  of  the  free  states  upon  trifles  and  side  issues,  whilst  the 
South  remained  a  unit  in  defence  of  its  great  interest."  It 
seerned  then  to  be  a  cunning  attempt  to  balk  and  divert  the 
indignation  aroused  by  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com 
promise.  At  the  time  when  Protestant  jealousy  was  being 
excited,  the  South  pushed  its  schemes  of  enlarging  the  area 
of  human  bondage. 

The  refusal  of  the  candidates  of  the  American  Party,  to 
discuss  the  flaming  question  of  freedom  and  slavery,  drew 
forth  a  storm  of  obloquy,  while  the  inherent  sense  of  humor 
possessed  by  the  Yankee  found  colossal  expression. 

The  results  of  the  election  were  foreseen  by  practical 
politicians.  The  conflict  of  1856  narrowed  itself  down  to 
one  between  the  Democrats  and  Republicans.  Of  the  popu 
lar  vote,  Mr.  Fillmore  received  21.57%,  Fremont  33.09%, 
and  Buchanan  45.34%;  for  Mr.  Fillmore,  874,534  votes, 
for  Mr.  Fremont  1,342,264,  and  for  Mr.  Buchanan 
1,838,169. 

Though  some  give  the  Whig  party  a  nominal  history 
.from  1828  to  1852,  its  real  activity  covers  the  four  years 

136 


POLITICS  AND  IMMIGRATION 

between  1842  and  1846,  and  its  only  genuine  party  action 
was  its  nomination  of  Clay,  in  1844.  "  During  all  the  res^ 
of  its  history,  the  party  was  trading  on  borrowed  capital 
and  its  creditors  held  mortgages  on  all  its  conventions, 
which  they  were  always  prompt  to  foreclose." 

The  Whig  party,  now  dead  forever,  had  done  its  work. 
It  had  had  its  own  office  to  perform.  ' '  In  its  members, 
rather  than  its  leaders,  was  preserved  most  of  the  national 
izing  spirit  of  the  United  States."  In  a  word,  while  the 
people  of  the  various  states  were  not  yet  ready  for  true1 
nationality,  the  preparatory  work  in  behalf  of  the  final 
consummation  was  crudely  but  effectively  done  for  the 
making  of  the  United  States  of  our  day.  The  exact  situa 
tion  is  best  reflected  in  the  American  literature  of  the 
period.  There  were  histories  of  the  states,  but  no  com 
plete  history  of  the  United  States  until  one  was  written  by 
a  woman,  Mrs.  Emma  Willard,  a  practical  teacher  at  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  in  1828. 

Knownothingism,  as  described  by  critics  and  opponents, 
with  its  "  riotous  career,"  was  a  sudden  tornado  of  opin 
ion,  like  that  of  anti-Masonry,  blowing  from  an  independ 
ent  quarter  across  the  field  of  the  regular  parties  and  for  a 
little  while  confusing  their  lines.  When  civil  war  was  im 
pending  in  1860,  it  was  as  the  flicker  of  a  dying  flame,  that 
under  the  name  of  the  Constitutional  Union  Party,  some 
ex-members  of  the  old  Whig  party,  in  the  border  states, 
nominated  John  Bell  and  Edward  Everett  for  President  and 
Vice  President.  The  last  trace  of  the  old  Whig  party  was 
utterly  lost  in  the  storm  of  war  which  burst  on  the  country 
in  1861. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
The  First  Citizen  of  Buffalo. 

After  his  overwhelming  defeat,  in  the  election  of  1856, 
which  he  took  very  philosophically,  Mr.  Fillmore  recon 
structed  his  home  and  settled  down  to  be  a  model  ex- 
president. 

For  a  generation  he  was  "  the  first  citizen  of  Buffalo  ", 
though  from  the  beginning  of  his  manhood  he  had  been 
foremost  among  the  lovers  of  "  the  Lake  City." 

During  his  legal  practice  and  his  Congressional  career, 
his  home  was  on  Franklin  street.  The  house,  a  two- 
storied  white  building,  had  a  row  of  trees  in  front.  Lake 
Erie  was  but  a  short  distance  away.  "  It  was  the  home  of 
industry  and  temperance,  with  plain  diet ;  no  tobacco,  no 
swearing." 

Before  entering  a  new  house,  he  made  first  a  home  by  a 
second  marriage.  On  March  loth,  1858,  in  Albany,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Hague  officiating,  in  the  same  room  in  the  Schuy- 
ler  mansion  in  which  Alexander  Hamilton  made  Elizabeth 
Schuyler  his  bride,  Mr.  Fillmore  was  married  to  Mrs.  Caro 
line  Mclntosh,  widow  of  Ezekiel  C.  Mclntosh,  one  of  the 
prominent  men  of  business  in  Albany  and  a  man  of  high 
personal  worth. 

The  house  in  Buffalo,  which  the  ex-president  purchased 
was  on  ground  which  first  belonged  to  the  Holland  Land 
Company.  In  1853,  John  Hollister  found  a  white  building 
standing  on  this  site,  the  Delaware  Avenue  side  being  orna 
mented  with  a  row  of  tall  poplars.  Here,  on  a  slight  emi 
nence,  he  built  his  home,  in  the  style  of  the  Tudor  Gothic. 
Within,  the  heavy  moldings  and  ornamentation  of  Queen 
Elizabeth's  era  still  remain  to  attest  the  taste  and  wealth  of 
the  first  occupant.  The  house  fronted  Niagara  Square  and 
near  by,  as  neighbors,  were  the  Hawleys,  Salisburys, 

138 


THE  FIRST  CITIZEN  OF  BUFFALO 

Havens,  Burtices,  Austins,  Babcocks,  Seymours,  Wilkesons, 
Sizers,  and  others.  Here  Mr.  Hollister  lived  until  the 
financial  disasters  of  1858  swept  away  his  fortune.  Then 
this  dwelling,  so  spacious  and  comfortable,  with  its  excel 
lent  location,  formed  the  setting  for  the  generous  hospitality 
and  elegant  leisure  of  the  ex-President.  To-day,  much 
altered  and  merged  into  the  Castle  Inn,  it  faces  the  Mc- 
Kinley  monument  in  Niagara  Square.  While  living  here, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fillmore  worshipped  in  the  Episcopal  church. 

Hardly  was  the  new  couple  settled  in  Buffalo,  when  the 
civil  war  broke  out.  It  was  a  sectional  struggle,  economic 
and  moral,  between  the  States.  It  had  been  fought  long 
and  hard  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  before  it  was  adjourned 
to  the  bloody  field. 

How  earnestly  Mr.  Fillmore  strove  to  avert  the  impend 
ing  storm  is  seen  in  his  letters  at  this  time.  He  declared 
himself  ready  to  act  as  intermediary  in  the  cause  of  peace, 
in  order  to  forefend  the  shedding  of  blood.  The  scurrilous 
editorials  in  opposition  to  the  project  of  the  Peace  Confer 
ence,  which  he  was  willing  to  attend,  illustrate  the  diffi 
culties  in  both  the  path  of  pure  Christianity  and  of  the 
Parliament  of  the  World  at  the  Hague. 

During  the  war  between  the  states,  Mr.  Fillmore  was 
made  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Defense  in 
Buffalo,  and  was  captain  of  the  Union  Continentals.  He 
presided  over,  or  took  part  in  the  various  public  meetings 
to  sustain  the  Government  or  to  encourage  the  Union 
soldiers,  and  in  other  ways  showed  his  intense  interest  as  a 
patriot  in  the  issue  of  the  war  and  the  fate  of  his  country. 
He  was  a  strong  Union  man,  though  far  from  approving 
all  the  acts  of  the  Lincoln  administration.  He  was  chair 
man  of  the  Union  rally,  April  16,  1861,  and  he  initiated 
subscriptions  in  aid  of  the  families  of  volunteers.  At  the 
head  of  his  company,  he  escorted  the  first  troops  sent  off  to 
the  war  on  May  3rd,  1861.  In  the  Fillmore  Papers  may 

139 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

be  found  many  of  his  speeches  and  letters  during  the  con 
tinuance  of  the  civil  war. 

Yet  because  of  what  some  choose  to  consider  his  "  half 
hearted  attitude",  he  had  occasionally  to  submit  to 
defamation  and  insult,  some  of  it  of  a  very  vulgar  kind. 
In  a  time  of  excitement,  "  Old  Glory  "  is  made  to  cover  a 
multitude  of  abominations.  Of  necessity  it  shelters  "  lewd 
fellows  " ,  as  well  as  genuine  patriots.  The  mudslinger  and 
the  assassin  differ  in  degree,  rather  than  in  kind. 

Of  the  three  presidents,  whom  he  entertained  in  his 
home,  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  1843  ;  Andrew  Johnson,  in 
1866 ;  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  February  i6th  and  lyth, 
1861,  he  met  and  honored  the  last  in  both  life  and  death, 
paying  his  memory  the  last  honors.  Mr.  Lincoln's  visit  to 
Buffalo,  as  the  guest  of  Mr.  Fillmore  was  from  February 
1 8th  to  20th,  1 86 1.  At  the  Unitarian  church,  Rev.  Dr. 
Hosmer  pastor,  the  two  men  who  held  the  same  views  on 
slavery  worshipped  together.  Mr.  Fillmore's  father  died 
March  28,  1863,  making  life  lonelier,  for  father  and  son  were 
often  seen  together  looking  almost  like  twin  brothers,  in 
venerable  and  attractive  manhood. 

The  country  at  peace  and  the  returning  Union  armies 
welcomed  home,  Mr.  Fillmore  again  sought  relaxation  in 
travel  beyond  sea,  where  already  his  accomplished  and 
patrician  wife  had,  a  dozen  years  before,  enjoyed  like  him 
her  first  view  of  the  old  lands  of  culture  and  history.  Most 
of  the  winter  of  1866  was  spent  in  Madrid  or  Paris. 

Returning  from  his  second  European  tour,  Mr.  Fillmore 
kept  up  the  same  correct  habits  that  had  marked  his  whole 
life,  as  shown  in  his  love  of  outdoors  and  the  use  of  his 
legs.  Besides  his  various  activities  of  altruism,  such  as, 
for  example,  reading  Shakespeare  for  the  benefit  of  "the 
hands  "  in  a  shoe  factory  while  they  worked,  he  was  the 
occupant  of  various  "  figure-head-positions  "  where  dignity 


140 


THE  FIRST.   CITIZEN  OF  BUFFALO 

and  character  were  desired  above  those  who  did  the  humbler 
and  harder  work. 

In  his  library,  which  was  well  stocked  with  the  silent 
friends  he  loved,  and  rich  in  all  kinds  of  useful  aids  to 
relaxing,  he  spent  much  time.  He  was  as  methodical  in 
his  daily  life  as  when  President  of  the  nation.  His  activity 
as  founder  of  the  Historical  Society  and  zealous  patron  of 
other  civic,  educational  and  philanthropic  institutions  in 
Buffalo  was  constant  and  unusual. 

One  instance  of  delightful  urbanity  is  recalled  by  the 
mother  of  one  of  our  most  brilliant  women  professors  in 
Wellesley  College.  She  was  then  the  young  wife  of  a  min 
ister  in  Buffalo.  Her  father  had  been  known  as  "  a  bawl 
ing  abolitionist  ",  who  in  the  awful  days  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law,  as  the  President  of  the  Boston  and  Concord 
Railway,  hated  Fillmore  and  all  his  works.  As  a  northern 
girl,  she  had  been  taught  to  believe  that  Fillmore  was 
"Armageddon  &  Co.,  Unlimited",  if  not  the  very  devil 
himself.  In  her  evening  dress  and  in  his  "  claw-hammer  " 
coat,  they  first  met  on  a  social  occasion.  His  fatherly  in 
terest  in  her  role,  of  minister's  wife  and  the  mother  of  little 
children,  his  eager  inquiries  and  sympathy  with  her  work 
and  his  Chesterfieldian  manners  nearly  took  her  breath 
away.  Instead  of  horns,  hoofs,  forked  tail,  sooty  hide,  and 
sulphurous  breath,  here  was  a  delightful  old  gentleman.  It 
was  a  sudden  and  very  pleasant  disillusion. 

Throughout  his  life,  Mr.  Fillmore  took  a  deep  interest  in 
the  Indians  of  New  York.  To  the  last  Great  Council  of 
the  Six  Nations,  held  at  Glen  Iris,  near  Portage,  N.  Y.,  in 
October,  1872,  regularly  convened  by  representative  In 
dians,  and  the  Council  Fire  lighted  by  one  of  the  Iroquois, 
Mr.  Fillmore  went  by  invitation  as  an  interested  spectator. 
Here  were  present  nineteen  painted  and  plumed  sons  of  the 
forest,  most  of  them  bearing  names  that  are  historic  in 
frontier  history,  besides  several  women,  one  of  them  being 

141 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

Mrs.  Osborn,  Brant's  beautiful  and  accomplished  daughter. 
The  men  were  armed  and  ornamented  as  in  the  old  days  of 
fame  and  glory.  The  grandsons  of  four  chiefs  of  might 
and  renown,  took  part  in  the  ceremonies, — Joseph  Brant's 
grandson,  Colonel  Simcoe  Kerr,  Chief  of  the  Mohawks  ; 
John  Jacket,  grandson  of  Red  Jacket ;  a*grandson  of  Corn- 
planter  and  a  grandson  of  Mary  Jameson  ;  N.  H.  Parker, 
brother  of  E.  S.  Parker,  who  was  on  General  U.  S.  Grant's 
staff  during  the  Civil  War;  besides  Black  Snake,  Tall 
Chief,  Shongo,  son  of  the  Seneca  chief  who  led  the  descent 
npon  Wyoming,  in  1778,  and  last,  but  by  no  means  least, 
George  Jones,  son  of  the  sachem  Long  Horn,  who  had  acted  as 
executioner  in  a  case  of  witchcraft  on  Buffalo  Creek,  May 
2nd,  1821.  When  the  orator  Red  Jacket  defended  this  man 
in  a  court  of  law,  he  quoted,  in  defense  of  the  accused,  the 
Salem  precedent  in  Massachusetts,  and  acquittal  was  the 
result.  It  is  not  generally  considered,  yet  it  is  a  fact,  that 
both  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  employed  as  allies 
more  Iroquois  in  the  war  of  1812,  than  during  the  Revolu 
tion  of  1776.  The  gathering  at  Glen  Iris  was  one  of  intense 
interest  and  highly  dramatic  in  its  eloquence  and  incidents, 
because  of  this  schism  in  1812,  which,  before  the  session  of 
this  council,  had  not  yet  been  healed. 

The  white  people  were  not  commingled  with  the  red 
men,  but  occupied  a  separate  part  of  the  Council  House. 
The  most  notable  incident  of  the  gathering  was  the  recon 
ciliation  between  the  Mohawks  and  the  Senecas.  The 
former  had  served  Great  Britain  and  the  latter  the  Ameri 
can  Republic  in  the  war  of  1812.  In  this  gathering,  the 
feud  of  seventy-five  years  was  healed,  with  appropriate 
words,  the  clasping  of  hands  and  other  ceremonies  and 
particularly  the  smoking  of  the  pipe  of  peace. 

After  reconciliation  and  the  Council  exercises  had  been 
completed,  the  white  people  who  were  present  organized. 

142 


THE  FIRST  CITIZEN  OF  BUFFALO 

Mr.  Filltnore  acted  as  chairman  and  several  brief  addresses 
were  made. 

In  January,  1874,  Mr.  Fillmore  was  invited  by  his  old 
friend,  Mr.  William  O.  Corcoran,  of  Washington,  to  meet 
at  dinner  the  surviving  members  of  his  former  cabinet.  By 
the  ex-president's  request,  this  reunion  was  put  off  until 
April.  When  the  appointed  time  came,  however,  both  the 
ex-president  and  his  Postmaster-General  had  joined  the 
majority,  being  in  death  divided  but  by  a  few  days.  In 
February  Mr.  Fillmore  attended  his  last  public  meeting  and 
spoke  on  the  Japan  Expedition  of  Commodore  Perry,  to 
which  he  had  given  executive  initiation. 

For  Millard  Fillmore,  nature's  process  of  transfer  from 
this  life  to  the  next  was  by  a  shock  of  appoplexy.  On  the 
first  day,  Tuesday,  February  13,  1874,  Mr.  Fillmore  saw 
clearly  the  issue  and  remarked,  "  This  is  the  beginning  of 
the  end."  From  the  22nd  to  the  25th  of  February,  he  was 
up  and  about  the  house,  but  on  the  26th  he  sank  steadily. 
On  Sunday  evening,  March  8th,  when  given  some  food,  he 
said,  "The  nourishment  is  palatable."  These  were  his 
last  words.  At  9  P.  M.  he  was  unconscious.  At  n.io, 
his  eyes  were  closed  by  the  attendant  physician,  Dr.  White. 

On  the  nth  of  March,  brief  services  of  farewell  in  the 
home  were  conducted  by  the  Rev.  N.  R.  Hotchkiss,  pastor 
of  the  Baptist  Church  and  Rev.  Dr.  John  C.  Lord,  Presby 
terian.  Then  the  body  was  taken  to  St.  Paul's  cathedral 
to  rest  in  state.  The  guard  of  honor  around  the  white, 
covered  casket  consisted  of  eight  non-commissioned  officers 
of  Company  D,  of  the  Buffalo  City  Guards,  who  bore  the 
coffin  out  of  the  house. 

Although  March  n,  1874,  was  a  cold  raw  day,  forbidding 
to  pedestrians,  throngs  of  his  fellow  citizens,  who  were 
proud  of  the  man  who  did  so  much  for  Buffalo,  apart  from 
his  fame  as  president,  came  to  look  once  more  upon  that 
serene,  courtly  face  and  to  recall  the  genial  humanity  of 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

the  man  who  began  with  axe  and  plough  to  develop  the 
Empire  State. 

At  2  P.M.  the  committees,  Congressmen,  Governor,  Presi- 
pent  Grant  and  others  entered  the  edifice.  At  2.15,  six 
sergeants  of  the  U.  S.  Infantry  at  Fort  Porter  bore  the  body 
into  the  nave  of  the  cathedral.  Then,  headed  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Shelton,  the  Episcopal  ministers  of  Buffalo  and  the 
pall  bearers,  eight  prominet  citizens,  followed.  Dr.  Shelton, 
a  life-long  friend  of  Mr.  Fillmore,  recounted  the  chief  inci 
dents  in  the  life  of  the  deceased  and  the  main  features  of 
his  career,  poverty,  industry,  perseverence,  purity,  inde 
pendence,  and  honesty.  The  music,  by  a  full  choir,  was 
appropriate  and  pleasing.  The  burial  was  in  Forest  Lawn 
cemetery. 

In  February,  1861,  as  we  have  seen,  Abraham  Lincoln 
and  Millard  Fillmore,  guest  and  host,  worshipped  God  in 
the  Unitarian  church  in  Buffalo.  Standing  together  in  the 
pew,  these  two  men,  both  forest  born,  fellow  rail  splitters, 
self-educated  frontier  lawyers,  comrades  in  Congress,  Whigs 
of  the  old  school,  both  believers  in  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law, 
and  long  convinced  that  gradual  emancipation,  with  in 
demnity  to  the  slave  owners,  was  the  true  method  of  na 
tional  policy,  of  the  same  height  at  the  shoulders,  the  one 
raw-boned  and  homely  in  country  clothes,  the  other  of 
polished  manners  and  garbed  in  finest  material,  were  typical 
of  the  glory  and  the  mystery  of  human  life.  One  passed  on 
to  colossal  burdens,  and  through  profoundest  sorrows,  to 
martyrdom,  exhaltation,  mythology  and  apotheosis.  The 
other  has  had  to  wait  for  the  slow  justice  of  time.  When 
volcanic  passions  have  cooled,  and  history's  perspective  is 
clear,  the  radiant  moon  of  duty  done  will  shine  above  the 
ashes  of  the  night  fires,  that  once  on  the  hills  hid  even  the 
mountain  peaks. 

144 


MILLARD  FILLMORE  CHRONOLOGY. 

The  name  Fillmore  is  of  English,  possibly  Norman  origin, 
the  family  having  its  seat  in  Herst,  Parish  Otterden,  in 
which  place  James  Filmer  had  his  arms  confirmed  to  him 
in  1570,  viz.  sable,  three  bars  three  cinquefoils  in  chief,  or ; 
died,  1585  ;  and  had  issue,  Sir  Edward,  of  Little  Charlton, 
who  purchased  East  Sutton  in  Kent. 

The  first  of  the  name  known  in  this  country  is  John  Fill- 
more,  or  Phillmore,  "mariner"  of  Ipswich,  Mass.,  who 
purchased  an  estate  in  Beverly,  Nov.  24th,  1704.  He  is 
believed  to  be  the  common  ancestor  of  all  the  Fill- 
mores  in  America.  He  married  June  19,  1701,  Abigail, 
daughter  of  Abraham  and  Deliverance  Tilton,  of  Ipswich 
by  whom  he  had  two  sons  and  a  daughter.  John,  the  elder 
son,  hero  of  the  "  Narrative  "  and  captor  of  a  pirate  cap 
tain,  moved  in  1724  to  Franklin,  Conn.,  dying  in  1777. 
His  son  was  Nathaniel,  born  at  Bennington,  April  19,  1771  ; 
his  son  Millard  Fillmore  was  born  at  Locke,  now  Summer 
Hill,  Cayuga  County,  N.  Y. 

1800.  January  7.  On  the  farm  at  Locke  and  Sempronius 
until  14. 

1814.  Hundred-mile  walk  to  Sparta,  N.  Y. 

1815.  Apprenticeship  at  wool  carding  and  cloth  dressing. 
1818.  Teaching  school  at  Scott,  N.  Y.     Walk  to  Buffalo 

and  back. 

1819-1821.     Study  of  law  at  Montville  and  Moravia. 

1821.  Moved  to  Aurora  (now  East  Aurora,  Erie  County) 
N.  Y. 

1822.  Read  law  in  Buffalo. 

1823.  Admitted  to  practice,  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  in 
Buffalo. 

1823-1830.  Practiced  law  in  Aurora. 
1826.  Feb.  5th.     Married  to  Abigail,  daughter  of  Rev. 
Lemuel  Powers. 

10  145 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

1827.  Admitted  to  the  bar  as  attorney  of  the  Supreme 
Court. 

1828.  May  22nd.     Delegate  to  the  Erie  County  Conven 
tion  of  National  Republicans. 

1828.  November.     Elected  to  the  New  York  Assembly. 
Anti-Masonic  Candidate. 

1829.  Admitted     as   counsellor,      New    York    Supreme 
Court. 

1829.  Re-elected  to  the  New  York  Assembly. 

1830.  Re-elected  to  the  New  York  Assembly. 

1831.  In  New  York  Assembly.     Bill  for  abolition  of  im 
prisonment  for  debt. 

1832.  Death  of  his  mother,  Mrs.  Phebe  Fillmore. 
1832.  Law  firm  of  Clary  and  Fillmore  formed. 
1832.  Active  in  the  Buffalo  Young  Men's  Lyceum. 
1832.  Elected  representative  in  the  Twenty-Third  Con 
gress. 

1832.  Wrote  pamphlet  advocating  abolition  of  religious 
tests. 

1833.  In  Washington,  in  House  of  Representatives. 

1834.  Law  firm  of  Fillmore  and  Hall  formed. 

1836.  Nominated  again  for  Congress. 

1837.  Burning  of  the  steamer  "  Caroline  ". 

1838.  Representative  in  Twenty-fifth  Congress. 
1840.  Representative  in  Twenty-Sixth  Congress. 

1842.  Chairman  of  Ways  and  Means  Committee.  Leader 
of  the  House. 

1842.  March  3rd.  Secures  appropriation  for  Morse's 
Magnetic  Telegraph. 

1842.  June  9th.     Famous  speech  on  the  Tariff. 

1842.  Declined  nomination  for  Congress. 

1843.  The  lake  steamer  Michigan  launched. 

1844.  Candidate  for  vice-president  in  the  Whig  National 
Convention. 

146 


MILLARD  FILLMORE  CHRONOLOGY 

1844.  Nominated  for  Governor  of  New  York.  Defeated 
by  Silas  Wright. 

1846-1874.  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Buffalo. 

1847.  Nominated  for  Comptroller  of  New  York  State. 
Elected. 

1848.  In  office  as  Comptroller. 

1848.  June  9th.  Nominated  for  Vice  President  by  the 
Whig  National  Convention. 

1848.  November.  Elected  Vice  President  of  the  United 
States. 

1848.  Gold  discovered  in  California. 

1849.  In  his    Report    foreshadows  the   National  Bank 
system. 

1849.  January  i.  Resigns  office  as  Comptroller  (in  effect 
February  20). 

1849.  March  4.     Inaugurated  as  Vice  President. 

1850.  April  3.     Address  on  Rules  of  Order  in  the  Senate. 
1850.  July  10.     Took  oath  of  office  as  President  of  the 

United  States. 

1850.  New  Cabinet  formed. 

1850.  Supremacy  of  the  National  Government  asserted 
in  New  Mexico. 

1850.  California  admitted  to  the  Union,  September  9. 

1850.  September  18.     Signed  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act.  -• 

1850.  New  Mexico  organized  as  a  Territory. 

1850.  Utah  made  a  Territory.     Appointment  of  Brigham 
Young  as  Governor. 

1851.  April  25.     Second  proclamation  against  filibuster 
ing. 

1851.  May.     Opening  of  the  Erie  Railroad. 
1851.  Laid  the  corner  stone  of  the  Capitol  Extension. 
1851.  August  ii.     Lopez  and  filibusters  land  in  Cuba. 
1851.  September.     Tour  in  New  England. 
1851.  Appoints  Judge   B.  R.  Curtis  on  U.  S.  Supreme 
Court  Bench. 

i47 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

1851.   December   30.     Receives    L,ouis    Kossuth.     Non 
intervention  policy  upheld. 

1851.  Better  to  "  Emperor  "  of  Japan  written  and  Perry 
called  to  Washington. 

1852.  June  16-21.     Whig  National  Convention  at  Balti 
more. 

1852.   Despatch  of  Commodore  M.  C.  Perry  to  Japan. 

1852.  December  6.     Suppresses  message  on  emancipation 
of  slaves. 

1853.  March.     Dinner  tendered  by  the  citizens  of  Wash 
ington. 

1853.   March  4.     Retired  from  the  Presidency. 

1853.  March  30.     Death  of  Abigail  Powers  Fillmore  at 
Washington. 

1854.  March  i.     Tour  in  the  Southern  States.     At  home 
May  2oth. 

1854.  Tour  in  the  West.     May  29  to  mid-June. 

1854.  July  26.     Death  of  only  daughter,  Mary  Fillmore. 

1854.  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  signed  (Repeal  of  the  Mis 
souri  Compromise)  May  30. 

1855.  May  17.     Sailed  for  Europe. 

1855.  Precedent  fixed  for  reception  of  ex-presidents  of 
U.  S.  in  Europe. 

1856.  Nominated  for   President  by  the  American  Party. 
1856.   Nominated  for  President  by  the  Whig  Party. 
1856.   May  21.     Letter  of  Acceptance. 

1856.  June.     Returned    from    fifteen    months  travel  in 
Europe. 

1856.  June  22.     Arrival  in  New  York. 

1856.  June  26.     Famous  Union  speech  at  Albany. 

1856.  November.     Defeated  in  the  National  election. 

1858.  Feb.    10.     Married   in   Albany  to  Mrs.    Caroline 
Mclntosh. 

1858.  In  his  new  home  on  Niagara  Square  in  Buffalo. 
Generous  hospitality. 

148 


MILLARD  FILLMORE  CHRONOLOGY 

1859.  At  Bi-centennial  of  Norwich,  Conn. 

1860.  Requested  to  go  South  as  commissioner  in  inter 
ests  of  Peace. 

1 86 1.  February.     Welcomes  and    entertains   President 
elect  A.  Lincoln. 

1 86 1.  Speaker  at  the  Union  rally  and  first  contributor  to 
funds. 

1 86 1.  Captain  of  the  Union  Continentals. 

1861.  Escorts  Volunteers  for  the  Union  army. 

1862.  Chairman   of   the   Buffalo   Committee   of    Public 
Defense. 

1862.  One  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Buffalo  Fine  Arts 
Academy. 

1862.  May  20.  Elected  President  of  the  Buffalo  His 
torical  Society,  1862-1867. 

1865.  April.  Escorts  body  of  Mr.  Lincoln  from  Batavia 
to  Buffalo. 

1865.  Dec.  Wrote  last  will  and  testament,   (2  codicils, 
1868  and  1873.) 

1866.  In  Europe  again  with  Mrs.  Fillmore. 

1867.  First  President  of  the  Buffalo  Club. 

1869.  October  n.  Presides  over  the  Southern  Com 
mercial  Convention  at  Louisville,  Ky. 

1869.  Appoints  commission  to  visit  Russia  for  trade  and 
in  Europe  to  attract  capital  and  immigration  to  the  South 
and  West. 

1870.  President  of  the  Buffalo  General  Hospital. 
1870.  Trustee  Grosvenor  Library  (1870-1874). 
1872.  Entertains  the  Japanese  ambassador,  Iwakura. 

1872.  August.     Opening  of  the  Buffalo,  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  Railway. 

1873.  March  3rd.     Address  before  Society  for  the  Pre 
vention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals. 

1873.  September  16.  "  History  given  in  an  Interview  " 
(New  York  Herald). 

149 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 

1873.  October    i.     Last   public   address.      Third   Inter 
national  Exhibition,  Buffalo. 

1874.  Address  on  Perry's  Expedition  to  Japan. 
1874.   March  8.  Died  at  his  home  in  Buffalo. 
1874.  March  n.  Buried  in  Forest  Lawn  Cemetery. 
1874.   March  n  ?     Memorial  address  by  Hon.  James  O. 

Putnam. 

1874.  Agitation  in  favor  of  a  public  monument  to  Mr. 
Fillmore  in  Buffalo. 

1878.  Address  by  Gen.  James  Grant  Wilson  on  Millard 
Fillmore,  Buffalo. 

1 88 1.  August  ii.     Death  of  Mrs.  Caroline  C.  Fillmore. 

1889.  November  15.     Death  of  Millard  Powers  Fillmore. 

1899.  January  10.  "  Fillmore  Evening  "  at  the  Buffalo 
Historical  Society. 

1906.  Paper  on  Millard   Fillmore   and   his   part   in   the 
opening  of  Japan  before  Buffalo  Historical  Society. 

1907.  Publication  of  the  Millard  Fillmore  papers. 

1908.  Recovery  of  the  volumes  of  "  Letters  Received  ". 
1915.     Publication  of   "  Millard  Fillmore,   Constructive 

Statesman  and  Thirteenth  President  of  the  United  States." 


150 


INDEX 


Abolitionist,  16,  33,  82. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,    10,    u,    12, 

15,  TOO,  140. 
Adams,  Will,  94. 
Administrations,  34,  43. 
Africa,  70,  87,  88. 
Agricultural  Bureau,  126. 
Alabama,  17,  69. 
Albany,  4,  10,  40,  148. 
Albert,  Prince,  86,  89. 
Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  20. 
Aliens,  29-32,  133-137. 
Alliances,  83. 
Amboyna,  massacre.  98. 
American  literature,  137. 
American  party,  134-136. 
American  people,  2. 
American  ideas,  122,  109. 
American  vote,  38. 
Americanism,  125,  134,  136. 
Americans  and  Japanese,  98-103. 
Anglo-American    relations,    16-19, 

85-89,  109,  114-118,  142. 
Animals,  149. 
Annapolis,  86. 
Antarctic,  24. 
Anti-Fillmore  Whigs,  46. 
Anti-Masonic  agitation,  9-13,    137, 

146. 

Anti-secrecy,  9,  10. 
Anti-slavery  movement,  36,  75,  135. 
Archer,  Branch,  12,  14. 
Arctic  research,  92. 
Argonauts,  125. 
Area  of  United  States,  2,  90. 
Arizona,  65. 
Armenians,  84. 

Army  officers,  22,  39,  106,  107. 
Asia,  62,  90,  92,  130. 
Astor  House,  37. 
Atlantic  Ocean,  90. 
Attorney-General,  57,  58. 
Augusta  Chronicle,  75. 
Austria,  77,  81, 
Availability,  123. 

Bache,  Alexander  D.,  86. 
Balance  of  power,  41,  101. 


Balize,  116. 

Baltimore,  n,  26,  27,   121-124,   136. 

Bank  of  the  United  States,  34. 

Banking,  16,  47. 

Baptists,  73. 

Barbara  Frietchie,  51. 

Barca,  Don  C.  de  la,  108 

Barneveldt,  John  van  Olden,  51. 

Barringer,  108. 

Bates,  Edward,  57,  59. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  81. 

Belgium,  the  Land  of  Art,  46. 

Bell,  Alexander  Graham,  24. 

Bell,  P.  Hansborough,  65,  67. 

Belmpnt,  August,  80. 

Bennington,  145. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  46. 

Bering's  Strait,  92. 

Berrien,  John  McP.,  57. 

Beverly,  145. 

Biddle,  Commodore,  102. 

Blacks,  82,  87,  88. 

Blackstone,  3. 

Blue  Book,  118. 

Boggs,  Charles  H.,  86. 

Boston,  2,  72,  75. 

Botts,  John  Minor,  57. 

Boundaries,  68,  in. 

Boxers,  83. 

Brant,  Joseph,  142. 

Bremer,  Fredrika,  50,  51. 

Bridges,  Mr.  57. 

British  Blue  Book. 

British  sympathy  with  U.S.A.,  [79. 

Broad  Seal  War,  21,  22. 

Brother  Jonathan,  88. 

Brown,  Samuel  R.,  96. 

Buchanan,  James,  136. 

Buffalo,  2,  3,  13,  20,  46,  73,  88,  89, 

117,  138-144,  145- 
Buffalo  Historical  Society,  102,  141, 

149,  150. 

Bulwer,  Sir  Henry,  86,  115. 
Bunker  Hill,  81. 
Burns,  Anthony,  72. 
Burt,  David,  4. 
Buena  Vista,  123. 
Byron,  4. 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 


Cabinet,  38,  39,  53,  56,  70,  102,  106, 

126,  143. 
Calhoun,  John  C.,   n,    35,    39,    43, 

44,  45,  49,  75- 
California,  29,  41,  63,  65,  90,  97,  99, 

118,  129,  147. 

Cambreling,  Churchill  C.,  n. 
Canada,  18,  19,  73. 
Canal  enterprises,  113-118. 
Canal  Zone,  117. 

Capitol,  24,  126,  127,  131,  132,   147. 
Carlyle,  Thomas,  60. 
Caroline  (ship),  18,  19,  146. 
Cass,  Lewis,  86,  127. 
Castle  Inn,  139. 
Cayuga  County,  i,  4. 
Census,  i,  2,  15,  68. 
Central  America,  113-118,  130,  in. 
Cervera,  109. 
Charles  II,  98. 
Chicago,  86. 
China,  83,  99,  118,  122. 
Chinese,  6,  100. 
Chinese  Museum,  38. 
Choate,  Rufus,  u,  121. 
Christianity,  99,  100,  103,  139. 
Church  and  State,  29,  31. 
Civil  War,  11,  69,  73,   75,    76,    102, 

'37,  i3> 

Civilization,  129. 
Clary,  Asa,  3,  146. 
Clay,  Henry,  33,  37,  38,  41,  49,  58, 

71,  80,  113,   123. 

Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  115,  118. 
Clayton,  John  M.  115-117. 
Clergy,  9. 

Clipper  ships,  no,  115-118. 
Cobb,  Ho  well,  41. 
Collier,  John  A.,  38. 
Colonization  Society,  70. 
Colorado,  65. 
Colorphobia,  95. 
Columbia  River,  64. 
Columbus,  121. 
Comptroller,  33,  34,  146. 
Compromise  measures,  68,  69,  121, 

123,  125. 

Confederacy,  Southern,  59,  62. 
Confederate  veterans,  75. 
Congress,  41,  66. 
Conrad,  Charles  M.,  57. 
Constitution,  12,  14,  16,  32,  43,  53, 

66,  71,  72,  73,  74,  76. 


Constitutional  Convention,  44. 
Constitutional  Union  Party,  137. 
Cook,  Captain,  64. 
Conventions,  121-124. 
Corcoran,  William  O.,  143. 
Cornell,  Ezra,  50,  129. 
Cornell  University,  50. 
Corson,  Hiram,  50. 
Cotton,  37,*74,  88,  121. 
Corwin,  Thomas,  n,  59. 
Counterfeit  detector,  23. 
Cranch,  William,  54. 
Crittenden,  Col.,  107,  108. 
Crittenden,  John  J.,  38,  57,  58,  70, 

80. 

Crusaders,  99. 
Crystal  Palace,  85,  89. 
Cuba,  62,  104-109. 
Curtis,  Benjamin  R.,  75,  147. 
Cycle  of  Cathay,  85. 

Davila,  114. 

Davis,  R.  Harding,  in. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  86,  106. 

DeBow,  James,  D.  B.,  52. 

Debt,  imprisonment  for,  5,  146. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  92. 

DeForest,  John  H.,  94. 

Democracy,  122. 

Democratic  party,  29,  40-35,  41. 

Democratic-Republican  party,   29. 

Democrats,  21,  35,  36,  37,  81. 

Detroit,  127. 

Devens,  Charles  N.,  72. 

Dewey,  George,  94. 

Diplomacy, 

District  of  Columbia,    12,    15,    113- 

119,  131,  132. 
Disunionists,  75. 
Donelson,  Andrew  J.,  135. 
Doubleday,  in. 
Dred  Scott  case,  75. 
Drinking  customs,  23. 
Duke  of  Wellington,  38. 
Dutch,  30,  82,  94,  96,  100. 
Dutch  and  Japanese,  94,  96,  100. 
Dutch  law,  3. 
Dutch  Republic,  5. 

Eagle,  American,  87,  88. 

East,  The,  76. 

East  Aurora,  3,  145. 

Economics,  8,  14,  18,  22,  128,   129. 


152 


INDEX 


Education,  31,132. 
Electoral  votes,  7. 
Ellsworth,  Miss,  26. 
Emancipation,  70,  104,  144. 
Emigration,  125,  128. 
English,  100. 

Episcopal  Church,  139,  143,  144. 
Erben,  Henry,  86. 
Erie  Railroad,  106,  147. 
Erie  County,  4,  n,  15,  18,  22. 
Ethics,  8,  16,  32,  118,  128,  129. 
Europe,  77,  90,  128,  148. 
European  ideas  in  U.  S.  A.,  31. 
Everett,  Edward,  113,  118,  119,  137. 
Ewing,  Thomas,  n. 
Executive,  duties  of,  64,  68. 
Expositions,  85-89,  150. 
Express  (ship)  116. 

Faneuil  Hall,  72. 

Farmer,  Moses.  24,  27,  129. 

Federalists,  29,  30. 

Fenians,  20,  84. 

Feudalism,   129. 

Fifty-four  forty,  64. 

Filibusters,  104-112,  147. 

Fillmore,  Abigail  Powers,  70,   148. 

Fillmore,  Caroline  C.,  138,  150. 

Fillmore,  John,  145. 

Fillmore,  Mary  Abigail,  16,  148. 

Fillmore,     Mrs.      Phebe      Powers 

(Mrs.  Millard),  70,  138,  146. 
Fillmore,  Millard. 

Address  to  the  Senate,  42-49  ; 

Administration,  123,  126,  148-50  ; 

Albany,  10,  33,  34,  40  ; 

Americanism,  134-136  ; 

Ancestry,  i,  146  ; 

Anti-secrecy,  9-11  ; 

Autobiography,  145. 

Birth,  i  ; 
Banking,  34  ; 
Buffalo,  3,  13  ; 

Caroline  affair,  18,  19  ; 
Children,  14  ; 
Chronology,  145-150  ; 
Civil  War  period,  139,  140  ; 
Comptroller,  14,  33,  34  ; 
Conciliatory,  67  ; 
Constitution,  loyalty  to,  14  ; 
Council  of  Six  Nations,  142,  143; 


Digest  of  laws,  23  ; 
Dwelling  house,  138,  139  ; 

Education,  2,  4  ; 
Episcopal  Church,  139,  143  ; 
Europe,  135  ; 

Factions,  30  ; 
Family,  i,  16 ; 
Fireman,  132. 
Foreign  policies,  16-18  ; 

Immigration,  29-32  ; 
In  New  York  Assembly,  34  ; 
In  Congress,  n,  14,  101 ; 
Independence,  14,  21,  22  ; 

Japan  Expedition,  99-103  ; 
Know  Nothings,  12  ; 

Lawyer,  3,  4,  14  ; 
Leader  of  the  House,  18-25  J 
Last  sickness,  143  ; 
Letters,  122,  150  ; 

Marriage,  4  ; 

Measures  initiated,  5,  6  ; 

Messages  to  Congress,  54,  66,  70, 

96; 
Monument  in  Buffalo,  117  ; 

Name,  origin  of,  150  ; 
Narrative,  13,  146  ; 
Neighbors  in  Buffalo,    138,    139  ; 
New  Jersey  Case,  21,  22  ; 
Non-intervention,  77  ; 

Opinions  about,  15,  76  ; 
Orders  to  Perry,  97  ; 

Pamphlets,  7,  21-22  ; 
Peace  principles,  25,  189  ; 
Personal  appearance,  42  ; 
Philanthropy,  141  ; 
Politeness,  2,  42,  82,  141  ; 

Religion,  56  ; 

Reply  to  Austria,  78  ; 

Schooling,  2  ; 
Secrecy,  9,  10  ; 


153 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 


Seward  and  Fillmore,  32,  35,  36  ; 

Silver  Greys,  36  ; 

Speeches,  22  ; 

Signs  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  71 ; 

Statesman,  not  politician,  14  ; 

Tariff  bill,  22  ; 
Travels,  146  ; 

Union  Continentals,  139  ; 
Union  principles,  139,  140  ; 

Voice,  23  ; 

Fillmore,  Millard  Powers,  16,    150. 

Fillmore,  name,  145. 

Fillmore,  Nathaniel,  i,  140. 

Fillmore  Papers,  70,  139,  150. 

Fillmore  Wing,  36. 

Filmer,  James,  145. 

Finance,  18,  22,  33,  34. 

Fine  Arts,  i,  49,  150. 

Flag,  18,  63,   64,   72,  73,   90-94,   98, 

108,  140. 
Flogging,  92. 
Florida,  17. 

Foote,  Henry  S.,  46,  80. 
Force,  Joseph,  86. 
Forest  Lawn  Cemetery,  144. 
Fort  Independence,  72. 
Fort  Porter,  144. 
Foreign  policy,  125. 
Foreigners,  29-32,  133-137. 
France,  29,  30,  77,  83,  107,  109,  126. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  44,  47. 
Franklin  Relief  Expedition,  92. 
Fredericksburg,  46. 
Freemasons,  9,  12,  134. 
Free  States,  41. 
Fremont,  John  C.,  64,  136. 
French,  Revolutions,  9,  73,  82. 
French  Republic,  82. 
Freylinghuysen,  Theodore,  33. 
Frontiers,  i,   18,   19,   20,  21,  64,  63- 

68. 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  60,  67,  69-76, 

120,  121,  131,  144. 

Garfield,  James  A. ,  38. 
Genesee  Valley,  2. 
Genet,  EdmondC.,  81. 
Geography  and  opinions,  70. 
Germans,  30,  31,  in,  133. 


Glynn,  James,  93,  94. 

Glen  Iris,  141,  142. 

Gorky,  Maxim,  84. 

Governor's  Island,  63. 

Graham,  William  A.,  57,  59,  60,  91, 

96,  124,  136. 
Granger,  Francis.  36. 
Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  20,  144. 
Gray,  Robert,  64. 

Great  Britain,  29,  97,   109,  113-118. 
Greek  Slave,  87. 
Greene,  Daniel  C.,  94. 
Greenough,  J.  J.,  86. 
Grey  town,  114-116. 
Grog  ration,  92. 
Grosvenor  Library,  149. 
Guano,  117,  118. 

Hague,  The,  139. 

Hague,  Dr.,  138. 

Hall,  Nathan  K.,  14,  59. 

Halpine,  Charles  G.,  72. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  138. 

Harris,  Townsend,  89,  100,  102. 

Harrison,  William  Henry,   22,  24, 

123. 

Hartford  Convention,  30. 
Havana,  106,  107. 
Haven,  Solomon  G.,  14,  143. 
Hawaii,  40,  93. 
Hayashi,  100. 
Hayes,  Rutherford  G.,  23. 
Hayne,  Robert  T.,  49. 
Hay-Pauncefote  Treaty,  117. 
Henry,  Joseph,  24,  28/86,  129. 
Hepburn,  James  C.,  94,  96. 
Herald,  New  York,  86,  150. 
Hole  in  the  Wall,  46,  47. 
Holland,  7. 

Hollister,  John,  138,  139. 
Honduras,  in,  115. 
Hospital,  Buffalo  General,  149. 
Hosmer,  James  K.,  75. 
Hosmer,  Rev.  Dr.,  75,  76,  140. 
House  of  Representatives,  45. 
Huguenots,  73. 
Hull,  General  William,  20. 
Hulsemann,  J.  G.,  77-80. 
Hungary,  77. 
Hungarians,  77. 


Ichabod,  49,  51. 
Illinois,  57. 


154 


INDEX 


Immigration,  29-31,  127,    128,    133- 

136. 

Inauguration  ceremonies,  53,  56. 
Inauguration  day,  27,  28,  53,  56. 
Indemnities,  67. 
Indians,  17,  88,  133,  141-143. 
Indiana,  69. 
Intervention,  71,  82. 
Interior,  Secretary  of,  58. 
International    Expositions,    85-89, 

150. 

International  law,  118,  119. 
Iowa,  57. 
Ipswich,  145. 
Ireland,  133. 
Iroquois,  i,  141-143. 
Ithaca,  64. 
Ito,  Marquis,  100. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  9,  13. 
James,  Duke  of  York,  104. 
Jameson,  Mary,  142. 
Japan,  17,  25,  50,  66,  70,  77,  83,85. 
Japan  Expedition,  91,   92,    95-103, 

143- 

Japanese  language,  77,  100. 
Japanese  proverb,  42,  128. 
Japanese  race,  95. 
Jarnigan,  Spencer,  24. 
Java,  roi. 

Jefferson's  Manual,  45. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  30. 
Jenny  Lind,  81. 
Jingoism. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  130. 
Johnson,  Walter  R.,  86. 
Jones,  Paul,  86. 
Jordan  Valley,  92. 
Journalism,  9. 
Juan  de  Fuca,  64. 
Judicial  decisions,  65. 

Kansas,  17. 

Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  148. 
Kearny,  Stephen  W.,  64. 
Kempff,  Louis,  83,  84. 
Kerr,  Joseph  Sincoe,  142. 
King,  William  R.,  60. 
Know  Nothings,  10,  133-137. 
Kossuth,  77-84,  148. 
Kurihama,  100. 


Lafayette,  80,  81. 

Lakes,  13,  18,  20,  146. 

Lawrence,  Abbott,  37,  38. 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  106. 

Leisler,  Jacob,  73. 

L'Enfant,  Major,  131. 

Lewis,  and  Clark,  64. 

Liberty,  84,  88. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  49,  58,   70,   71, 

75,  102,  103,  139,  140,  141,144- 
Lobos  Islands. 
Locke,  i,  145. 
Lord,  John  C. ,  143. 
London,  18. 

London  Times,  71-79,  118,  121,  126. 
Lone  Star  Association,  no. 
Lopez,  Narcisco,  104,  147 
Louis  Philippe,  77. 
Louisiana,  no,  105-110. 
Lower  California,  no,  in 
Lyceum.  Young  Men's,  146. 

Machine  politics,  14. 

Macintosh,  Caroline,  138,  148. 

Macintosh,  Ezekiel  C.,  138,  148. 

Madrid,  109. 

Magna  Charta,  13. 

Manifest  Destiny,  104,  no,  114. 

Mann,  Dudley,  78. 

Mars,  63. 

Marshals,  U.  S.,  72,  75. 

Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  74. 

Massachusetts,  72.  142. 

Maury,  Matthew  F.,  86. 

McDonald,  Ronald,  100. 

McDufRe,  George,  11. 

McKinley,  William,  109,  139. 

McNab,  Colonel,  18  20. 

Mediators,  94 

Messages,  103. 

Methodists,  73. 

Mexican  War,  35,  62,  63,  90. 

Mexico,  39,  50,  58,  65,  84,  104,  no, 

112. 

Michigan  (steamer),  7,  146. 
Mikado,  100,  101. 
Miles,  O'Reilly,  72. 
Military  presidents,  22,  39,  65-68. 
Millard,  Phoebe,  i. 
Milton,  62. 
Missionaries,  90,  103. 
Mississippi,  46,  69,  90,  129. 


155 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 


Mississippi,  U.  S.  S.  S.,  79,  80,  101. 

Missouri  Compromise,  39,  135,  148. 

Mohawks,  142. 

Money,  34. 

Monroe   Doctrine,    100,    104,     112, 

114-119. 

Montville,  3,  145. 
Moravia,  4,  145. 
Morgan,  9. 
Mormons,  130,  131. 
Morris,  Robert,  5. 
Morse,  L.  F.  B.,  24-27,  129,  146. 
Mosquito  Coast  and  King,  1 14. 
Mountain  Meadow  massacre,  131. 
Mutsuhito,  the  Great,  27,  100.  102. 

Nagasaki,  93,  94,  100. 
Nara,  85. 
Narrative,  145. 
National  Bank  System,  34. 
National  Government,  2,  65-68, 101. 
National  Institute  of  Arts  and  Let 
ters,  76. 

National  Republicans,  11-13. 
National  Supremacy,  64-68. 
Native  American  party,  12,  30,  133- 

137- 

Nativism,  30,  133-137. 
Navy,  58,  90-94. 
Navy  Department,  93. 
Nebraska,  17. 
Negroes,  72,  73,  75,  88. 
Neutrality,  29. 
Nevada,  65. 
New  Amsterdam,  2. 
New  Bedford,  93. 
New  England  Society,  83. 
New  England,  133. 
New  Jersey,  86. 

New  Jersey  Election  Case,  21,  22. 
New  Mexico,  40,  63,  64-68,   15,  47. 
New  Netherland,  8,  133. 
New  Orleans,  105-108. 
Newspapers,  31,  82-84,  93,    94,   97, 

98. 

Newstead,  4. 

New  York  City,  30,  73,  85,  89. 
New  York  State,  i,  3,  18,  32,  33,  35, 

120,  135. 

Niagara  Falls,  18. 
Nicaragua,  n,  113-119. 
Nominating  Conventions,  9,  10,  48. 


Non-intervention,  77-84. 
North  Carolina,  59. 
Norwich,  149. 
North,  The,  8,  72,  76,  101. 
Nullification,  20,  75. 

Oaths,  56. 

Occident  and  Orient,  95. 

Oratory,  48.  ' 

Oregon,  63,  64,  90. 

Orient  and  Occident,  95,  113. 

Oyome"i  philosophy,  100. 

Pacific  Coast,   41,  64,   90,  118,  125, 

126,  129. 

Pacific  Ocean,  126. 
Palmerston,  Lord,  114-116. 
Pampero,  106,  107. 
Panama  Isthmus,  92,  ii6-n8. 
Panama-Pacific  Int.  Exposition,  89. 
Paris,  78. 

Parker,  Emanuel,  64. 
Parker,  E.  S.  and  N.  H.,  142. 
Parliamentary  law,  43-46. 
Parliaments,  121. 
Parties,  8-n,  21. 
Peace  Conference,  139,  149. 
Peacemakers,  94. 
Peace  precedents,  20,  94. 
Pearce,  James  A.,  59. 
Pennsylvania,  133. 
Pennington,  William,  57. 
Pe"rin,  Leonard,  46. 
Perry,  Matthew  C.,   83,  91,  92,  94, 

95-100,  102,  143,  148,  150. 
Perry,  William,  88. 
Personal  Liberty  bills,  74. 
Peru, 

Petition,  Right  of,  12,  13,  16. 
Phi  Beta  Kappa,  9. 
Phillemore,  145. 

Philadelphia,  2,  30,  37,  38,  74,  135. 
Philip  III,  87. 
Phillips,  Wendell,  72. 
Pierce,  Franklin,  13,  126,  127. 
Pilgrims,  113. 
Pirates,  145. 
Pittsburg,  20. 
Plymouth  Church,  81. 
Polk,  James  K,  13,  27,  34,  53,  63. 
Pope,  122. 
Portage,  N.  Y.,  141. 


156 


INDEX 


Porter,  Horace,  86. 

Postage  Reform,  70,  125,  126. 

Postmaster-General,  59. 

Powers,  Abigail,  12,  145. 

Powers,  Hiram,  87,  88. 

Powers,  Judge,  4. 

Powers    of     Congress,     President, 

Supreme  Court,  64-68. 
Preble,  (ship),  93. 
Preble,  George  H.,  86. 
Presidency,  44. 
President's  titles,  44. 
Progressive  principle,  10. 
Prometheus  (ship),  116. 
Prosperity,  125-129. 
Protection,  20. 
Psychic  Phenomena,  130. 
Punch,  63,  86-89,  98>  99- 
Puritanism,  72. 
Putnam,  James,  6,  150. 

Queen  Elizabeth,  82. 
Quitman,  John  A.,  104. 

Race  hatred,  32. 

Rail  splitters,  144. 

Rayner,  Kenneth,  38. 

Red  Jacket,  142. 

Refugees,  73,  77. 

Religion,  32,  56. 

Relics,  81. 

Repatriation,  20,  109. 

Republican  party,  136. 

Republics,  no. 

Revolution,  American,  78,  82,  142. 

Revenue,  23. 

Revolutions,  77. 

Rhodes,  James  Ford,  76. 

Right  of  search,  109. 

Rio  Grande,  65. 

Roche,  James  Jeffrey,  in. 

Rochester,  12,  73. 

Rocky  Mountains,  64. 

Roman  hierarchy,  134. 

Rome,  6. 

Rooserelt,  Theodore,  20,  83,  84. 

Rules  of  Behavior,  46. 

Russia,  84,  103,  118,  149. 

Rutgers  College,  33. 

Sandwich  Islands,  1 10. 
San  Francisco,  89,  no. 


!  San  Juan  del  Porte,  1 14. 
!  Santa  Fe,  64,  65. 

Saratoga  Springs,  60. 

Sargent,  Nathan  W.,  23. 

Sartiges,  M.  de,  82. 

School  fund,  31,  32,  38,  134. 

Scott,  Mrs.  Henry  N.,  40. 

Scott,  N.  F.,  145. 

Scott,   Winfield,    57,    58,    123,^124, 
136.. 

Secession,  69,  71. 

Secrecy,  9,  10,  133,  134. 

Sectionalism,  51. 

Sellstedt,  Lars  G. ,  76. 

Sempronius,  i. 

Senate,  41-47,  80,  147. 

Senate  Chamber,  47,  53,  127. 

Senecas,  142. 

Serfs,  101. 

Sessions  of  Congress,  41,  47. 

Seward,  William  H.,  10,  29,  31, "36, 
37,  40,  46,   52,  80,   loo,   102,  121, 

123,  135. 

Shakamaxon,  88. 

Shakespeare,  77,  140. 

Shelton,  Rev.  Dr.,  144. 

Shepherd,  Alexander  R.,  24. 

Silver  Greys.  23,  36,  60,  121. 

Slave  market,  52. 
I  Slavery,  35,   39,  65,  69-75,  104,  120, 

127,  128. 

i  Slavery,  abolition  of,  14,  15,  49. 
;  Slavery,  petitions  against,    12,   13. 
i  Slave-power,  65,  74. 
i  Slavery,  propaganda,  104-112,   128. 

Slaves,  14,  101. 

Sloat,  John  D.,  64. 

Saint  Lawrence,  86. 

Saint  Louis,  89. 

Smith,  Rev.  O.  N.,  4. 

Snuff,  47. 

Social  life,  9,  n,  47. 
i  Sonora,  in. 
I  South  Carolina,  76. 
I  South,  The,  8,  76,  82,  101,  113,  124, 

148. 

j  Southern  Commercial  Convention, 
149. 

Southern  Whigs,  120-124. 

Spain,  18,  107-109,  112,  114. 

Sparta,  i,  145. 

Spencer,  John  C.,  5. 


157 


MILLARD  FILLMORE 


Spiritism,  130. 

Squires,  Ephraim  G.,  114,  115. 
Stars  and  Stripes,  18,  72,  87,  90-94. 
State  Right,  50,  58,  72,  74,  101. 
Staten  Island,  8. 
States-General,  42,  43,  45. 
Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  41,  42. 
Stockton,  Richard,  92. 
Stonewall  Jackson,  52. 
Stevens,  Thaddeus,  120. 
Stuart,  Alexander  H.  H.,  59. 
Stuyvesant,  Peter,  133. 
Sullivan's  Road,  i. 
Summer,  Hill,  5,  145. 
Summers,  Mr.,  57. 
Summer,  Charles,  17,  51. 
Supreme  Court,  60,  75,  147. 
Surveying  expeditions,  90. 
Syracuse,  36. 

Taft,  William  H.,  20,  28,  33,  95. 

Taney,  Roger  B.,  75. 

Tariff,  21,  22,  103,  146. 

Taylor,  Zachary,  24,  34,  36-40,  53, 

54,  62,  65-68,  78,  105,  115,  123. 
Telegraph,  24-27,  146. 
Territories,  40,  63. 
Texas,  33,  35,  40,  64-68,  105. 
Third  Parties,  10. 
Tigre  Island,  113. 
Thompson,  Richard  W.,  22,  23. 
Times,  London. 
Tobacco,  74. 
Toombs,  Robert,  120. 
Tories,  113. 
Treaties,  29,  65,   66,   88,    100,    102, 

113-118. 

Tribune,  New  York,  72. 
Turkey,  77,  81. 
Twentieth  Century,  29,  34. 
Tyler,  Joyn,  27. 
Typewriters,  56. 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  53. 
Underground  Railway,  69. 
Union  Continentals,  139,  149. 
Union  ideas,  43,  44,  49,  50,  51,  58, 

74,  75,  76,  101. 
Unitarians,  75,  140,  144. 
United  States,  21,   45,   46,    68,   99, 

ipi,  113,  137. 
University  of  Buffalo,  147. 


Utah,  65,  131,  147. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  18,  20. 

Vancouver,  George,  64. 

Venus,  63. 

Verbeck,  GuidoM.,  94. 

Vermont,  9,  101.  131. 

Veto  Power,  37. 

Vice-presidency,  38,  41-46. 

Victoria,  Queen,  117. 

Vienna,  78. 

Vigilance  Committees,  73. 

Vintpn,  Mr.,  58. 

Virginia,  52,  69,  72,  74,  107. 

Walker,  William,  104,  110-112. 
War,  19,  20,  39. 
War-makers,  83. 
War,  Civil,  60,  61,  69,  75,  76. 
War  of  1812,  i,  2,  20,  30,  142. 
War  powers  of  President,  15. 
War  with  Mexico,  35 
Washington  City,    i,   4,  13,  23,  24, 

78,  113,  126,  131,  132. 
Washington,  George,  i,  7,   20,   79, 

86,  107,  119,  131,  134. 
Washingtonians,  23. 
Waterloo,  77. 
Webster,  Daniel,  n,  36,  49,  50,  51, 

56,  57,  71,  74,  76,  78-80,  107,  108, 

113,  117,  118,  121-124,  *32. 
Weed,  Thurlow,  10,  38,  40,  46. 
West,  The,  74,  76. 
Whales  and  Whaling,  40,  92,  93,  99. 
Wheaton,  Henry,  118. 
Whig  Party,  18,   21,   22,  24,  35,  38, 

41,  60,  61,    120-124,    133,   I35-I37- 
White  House,  34,  40,  80,  81. 
White,  John,  22. 
White  Sulphur  Springs,  107. 
Whitman,  Marcus,  64. 
Whittier,  John  G.,  49,  51,  72. 
Wilkes,  Charles,  24,  64. 
Willard,  Emma,  137. 
William  II,  96. 

Williams,  Channing  Moore,  96. 
Williams,  S.  Wells,   100. 
Wilmot,  David,  120. 
Wilmot  Proviso,  35-37,  86,  120. 
Wilson,  James  Grant,  150. 
Wilson,  Woodrow,  20. 
Wirt,  William,  n. 
Wisconsin,  57. 


158 


INDEX 


Wise,  Henry,  12,  15,  23. 
Wise,  John  S.,  13. 
Witchcraft,  142. 
Wolverine,  20. 
Wood,  Judge,  5. 
Woodbury,  Levi,  86. 
World's  Fair,  85-89. 
Wright,  Silas,  27,  33,  146. 
Wyoming,  142. 


Yacht  races,  87. 

Yankee  Doodle,  63,  87. 

Yankee  in  Europe.  85-89. 

Yankee  Volunteers,  63. 

Yankeeism,  113. 

Yedo,  101,  102. 

Yokohama,  85. 

Young,  Brigham,  130,  131,  147. 


159 


Books  by  Wm.  Elliot  Griffis,  D.D.,  L.H.D.  | 

•JKHKBKH*$<H«BttB>^^ 

Messrs.  Andrus  &  Church  will  send,  postpaid,  any  of  the  following 
works  of  Dr.  Griffis,  on  receipt  of  price  named  below. 

ANY  BOOK  AUTOGRAPHED   ON   REQUEST  TO  PUBLISHERS 

BOOKS  ON  THE  NATIONS  AND  COUNTRIES 

All  except  the  last  three  illustrated,  indexed  and  in  new  editions. 
Especially  rich  in  matters  of  American  interest. 

(1)  Belgium  :  The  Land  of  Art.      Its  History  (to  1912),  Legends, 
Industry  and  Modern  Expansion,  $1.25. 

(2)  Mighty  England:  The  Story  of  the   English  People  (to   1911). 
75  cents. 

(3)  China's  Story  :  In  Myth,  Legend,    Art  and   Annals  (to    1910), 
$1.25. 

(4)  Japan  :  In  History  (to  1913),  Folk-lore  and  Art,  75  cents. 

(5)  The  Mikado's  Empire  :  (i2th  edition),  (History  to  1909)  2  vols., 
|4.oo 

(6)  In  the  Mikado's  Service:  A  Story  of  Two  Battle  Summers  in 
China,  (Fiction),  $1.50. 

(7)  Corea  :  The  Hermit  Nation.     (History  to  1910),  £2.50. 

(8),  (9),  (10)  and  (u),  The  biographies  of  American  pioneer 
teachers :  "  Verbeck,  of  Japan,"  "  A  Maker  of  the  New  Orient,"  ( S.  R.  Brown ) , 
"Hepburn  of  Japan,"  "A  Modern  Pioneer  of  Korea,"  (H.  G.  Appenzeller), 
explain  the  modern  development  of  Japan  as  no  other  books  can. 
Each,  $1.25. 

(12)  Brave  Little  Holland  and  What  She  Taught  Us  :  75  cents. 

(12)  Young  People's  History  of  Holland  :  (to  1913),  $1.50. 

(14)  The  American  in  Holland      Sentimental   Rambles  in  the  Eleven 
Provinces  of  the  Netherlands,  $1.50. 

(15)  The  Student's  Motley  :  (with  eight  chapters  by  W.  E.  Griffis, 
bringing  the  history  to  1910),  $1.75. 

(16)  The  Romance  of  Discovery  ;  A  thousand  years  of  the  unveiling 
of  continents,  $1.50. 

(17)  The  Romance  of  American  Colonization :  $1.50. 

(18)  The  Romance  of  Conquest:  $1.50. 

(19)  The  Pathfinders  of  the  Revolution  :  A  Story  of  the  Great  March 
of  1779,  into  the  Wilderness.  Sullivan's  Expedition.  (Fiction),  $1.50. 

(20)  The  House  We  Live  In  :  Talks  about  the  Body  and  the  Right  Use 
of  It.     60  cents. 

(21 )  The  Lily  Among  Thorns  :  A  Study  of  the  Song  of  Songs.    $1.25. 

(22)  The  Call  of  Jesus  to  Joy  :  75  cents. 

Publishers:  Nos.  i,  3,  4,  12,  14,  21,  Houghton-Miffin  Co.,  Nos.  5,  15, 
Harpers,  Nos.  8,  9,  10,  u,  F.  H.  Revell  Co.,  Nos.  6,  16,  17,  18,  19,  W. 
A.  Wilde  Co.,  No.  2,  C.  Sower  Co.,  No.  7,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons, 
Nos.  20,  22,  Funk  &  Wagnalls. 

ANDRUS  &  CHURCH,    143  E.  State  St.,    ITHACA,  N.  Y. 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 
or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
Bldg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 
2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 

(415)642-6233 
1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books 

to  NRLF 
Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4  days 

prior  to  due  date 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


JAN  ?   1; 


3  0  \m 


Santa  CrtzJiinty 


-~-Om-8'34 

LOAN  ncro-r 


CA^. 


69382 


308703 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


